PIPE ROLLS. A name applied to the great or annual rolls of the English Exchequer, Written for the treasure•. They are so called because of their resemblance to a pipe, or on account of the favorite comparison of the public treasury to a reservoir, into which every branch of revenue flowed through these pipes. They were written by the treasurer's scribe, and controlled by the Chancellor's scribe. They contained a statement of the King's revenue, drawn up by the sheriff of one or more shires, and an account of the expendi tures made by the sheriff in his office. The chief item of the revenue was the 'form' of the shire, which consisted of the King's income from the royal demesne, the yearly fines paid by the boroughs for their corporate privileges, and the fines decreed in the county courts. Other items were the Danegeld„ a tax levied to resist the Northmen, the profits of the pleas of the Crown, the King's feudal income from reliefs, escheats, aids, and the proceeds of the tillage of the royal demesne.
The oldest extant pipe roll is that of 31 Henry I. (1131). These rolls extend from the second year of Henry II. (1156) till 1833, when the ancient system of the Exeehequer was abolished, with hut two breaks of a single year, and are among the most valuable of records, preserved in the Public Peco•d Office. In 1883 the Pipe Roll Society was founded, with the intention of pub lishing all the pipe rolls. Its publications (17 vols., London, 1884-97) include the 5-24 Henry II., forming a combination with the publications of the Record Commission. The latter had in 1833 published the pipe roll of 31 Henry I. and the Chancellor's roll of 3 John; and in 1S44 the pipe rolls 2. 3, 4 Henry II. and 1 Richard I. Consult Hall, Introduction to the Study of the Pipe Rolls (London, 1834).