"had in the time of Henry"
The Percy version states that the laws were granted by Henry I to the burgesses, but this may be a scribal assumption.

"distrain upon outsiders"
The principle regarding distraint was that burgesses had to capitalize on almost any opportunity to compel outsiders – who were not usually accessible – to answer to legal actions brought against them. Whereas, the burgess' person and property were always on hand, and therefore distraint against them should go through due process. The Percy version identifies the outsiders more explicitly as country-dwellers, and clarifies that they may not be distrained if they have come to the borough to attend the county court. The Wearmouth allows as exemption from distraint only that the outsiders have come to town on business of the bishop, but this is evidently an adaptation of the original to Wearmouth circumstances (it being clear from other evidence that the laws had been edited with that in mind).

"a loan of anything of his to outsiders"
To the clause concerning loans to outsiders, the Wearmouth version adds the proviso that "burgesses not use this privilege to vex villeins unjustly" – reflecting what was later a growing tendency to use litigation as a pressure tactic – but again this may be a Wearmouth adaptation.

"error in his pleading"
This refers to miskenning.

"buy whatever they wish"
It was not uncommon for towns to claim a pre-emptive right over cargoes of ships which moored, however temporarily, within their boundaries. The Percy version incorporates a scribal error in adding "not" to "wishes to depart" and it is this version which found its way into Ballard's compilation. The Wearmouth version substitutes Wearmouth for Tynemouth.

"travelling"
This qualifier before merchant is made explicit in the other versions.

"sold in the ship"
The Wearmouth version gave the option for herring to be brought ashore to be sold in town.

"the son shall share"
Concerning the son's right to share in the burgess privileges of his father, the Percy and Wearmouth versions more explicitly state that this is while the son still lives under the same roof: "while in his house, at his table".

"villein comes to reside"
The alternate versions are rephrased to clarify the contrast between an (escaped?) villein who remains a year and a day without challenge by any lord, and a villein whose lord has given him licence to reside in town temporarily (e.g. in order to trade on behalf of his lord).

"quits the burgage"
This seems to imply that a man had first to give up his burgess status before he was allowed to choose judicial combat as a defence. The other versions extend the exceptions to include any serious felony (i.e. presumably punishable by death), while the Wearmouth version specifies the preferred defence of a burgess as compurgation by 36 supporters.

"or outside"
The version of the laws found in the Scottish boroughs includes "outside the town" among the prohibited locations, and the PRO version appears from the wording to have accidentally omitted this. The Percy version specifies the locations as "neither in the marketplace nor in the countryside"; presumably the immediate countryside within the jurisdictional boundaries of the borough were intended, since it is hard to see how a borough could control the actions of a merchant outside its jurisdiction.

"6 ounces of silver"
According to Johnson, this was worth 10s. Judging from the equivalent, more explicit clause used by the Scottish boroughs, it relates to a ceiling on the amount the borough court could fine a burgess.

"merchet, heriot, blodwit, nor stengesdint"
Merchet was a fee for a lord's permission for his villein's daughter to marry, and heriot a death duty payable to the lord of a deceased villein. Towns were anxious to be free of dues or services associated with agricultural communities. Blodwit was a fine for an assault drawing blood. Stengesdint was a fine for striking with a stick (i.e. causing injury without drawing blood).

"oven and hand-mill"
The point about personal ovens and hand-mills was that there were typically communal facilities for baking and, especially, milling that burgesses were expected to use (since the revenues therefrom went towards paying the borough farm). The Percy version omits the proviso about the king's rights, while the Wearmouth version substitutes the rights of the bishop.

"wrong concerning bread or ale"
This related to breaking the assizes of bread and ale, first set down in writing in the time of Henry II. The Newcastle customs indicate that a first offence met with a warning, a second offence with a stern, public warning, but on the third the offender would be brought before the court for punishment. Women were much involved in selling the products of their baking and brewing; the Percy and Wearmouth versions, however, do not specify a sex of the offenders, and they seem to leave it to the discretion of the reeve as to whether a small fine was required for the first and second offence.

"justice"
A later version adds that the punishment due the offender will be decided by communal decision of the burgesses.

"cut"
Probably meaning cut a cloth into smaller pieces in order to retail it.

"give or sell his land"
The Wearmouth version is more explicit in stating that the right to dispose of real estate was a freedom from requiring any licence from a lord or from obtaining the advance agreement of one's heirs. In contrast to the latter freedom, at Nottingham heirs were permitted to redeem property sold by a relative, even against the purchaser's will, so long as they promised in the gildhall to pay the purchaser, within a year and a day, the price he had given for the property; compensation for improvements to or deterioration of the property since its sale might also be negotiated.