l leaders of his Society. Every year, eight or
ten of the seniors were to go to Surrey to stay for eight days to
inquire into the management of their property, and, if at any (p. 053)
other time, evil rumours about the conduct of the Warden reached the
Hall, two or three of them were to go to investigate. The scholars
could, with the consent of the Patron, the Bishop of Winchester, bring
about the deposition of the Warden, and elections to the Wardenship
were entrusted to the twelve seniors. They were to consult the
"brothers" who assisted the Warden at Merton, and were also to obtain
the sanction of the Bishop of Winchester.

These first Merton statutes clearly contemplate an endowed Hall,
differing from other Halls only in the existence of the endowment.
Some regulations are necessary in order that the tenure of the
property of the Society may be secure and that its funds may not be
misapplied, and the brief code of statutes is directed to these ends.
Walter de Merton's earliest rules make the minimum of change in
existing conditions. But the preparation of this code of statutes must
have suggested to the Founder that his generosity gave him the power
of making more elaborate provisions. The Mendicant Orders had already
established at Oxford and at Paris houses for their own members, and
the Monastic Orders in France were following the example of the
Friars. These houses were, of course, governed by minute and detailed
regulations, and it may have seemed desirable to introduce some
stricter discipline into the secular halls. At all events, in (p. 054)
1270, Walter de Merton took the opportunity of an increase in his
endowments to issue a code of statutes more than twice as long as that
of 1264. These new statutes mark a distinct advance in the Founder's
ideal of College life. The Warden becomes a much more important factor
in the conduct of the Hall as well as in the management of the
property; in the election and in the expulsion of scholars he is given
a greater place; his allowances are increased, and his presence at
Oxford seems to be implied. The scholars are to proceed from Arts to
Theology; four or five of them may be permitted to study the Canon
Law, and the Warden may allow some of them to devote some time to the
Civil Law. Two Sub-Wardens are to be appointed, one at Maldon and one
in Oxford; Deans are to watch over the morals of the scholars, and
senior students are to preside over the studies of t