In 1178, then, these five judges were set apart to hear ordinary suits; but they were specially directed not to leave Henry’s court; so that common pleas still “followed the king,” even ordinary litigants in non-royal pleas having to pursue the king in quest of justice as he passed from place to place in quest of sport. It must not be supposed that the arrangement thus made in 1178 settled the practice for the whole period of thirty-seven years preceding the grant of Magna Carta. On the contrary, it was merely one of many experiments tried by that restless reformer, Henry of Anjou; and the separate court then instituted may have been pulled down and set up again many times. The bench which appears in 1178 had probably, at best, a fitful and intermittent existence. There is evidence, however, that some such court did exist and did try common pleas in the reigns of Richard and John.[540] On the other hand, this tribunal had in John’s reign ceased to follow the king’s movements habitually (thus disregarding the decree of 1178), and had established itself at Westminster.[541] It was in 1215 considered an abuse for John to try a common plea elsewhere. Times had changed since his father had granted as a boon that a set of judges should remain constantly at “his court” to try such cases. ----- Footnote 540: See Prof. Maitland, _Sel. Pl. Crown_, xiii.-xvi.; see also in _Pipe Roll_, 7 John (cited Madox, I. 791) how money was paid that a plea pending before the _Justiciarii de banco_ might be heard _coram rege_. This entry proves that in 1205 there were two distinct courts, one known as _de banco_ and the other as _coram rege_. ----- Footnote 541: See Maitland, _Ibid._ ----- (2) Magna Carta in 1215 gave authoritative sanction to the already recognized rule that common pleas should be tried at Westminster, instead of moving with the king. No exceptions were henceforth to be allowed. Young Henry renewed this promise, and the circumstance of his minority favoured its strict observance. A mere boy could not make royal progresses through the land dispensing justice as he went. Accordingly, all pleas continued for some twenty years to be heard at Westminster. The same circumstances, which thus emphasized the stability of common pleas (along with all other kinds of pleas) in one fixed place, may have arrested the process of cleavage between the two benches. All the judges of both courts sat at Westminster, and therefore there was the less need for allocating the business between them with any exactitude. The two benches were in danger of coalescing.