 In February 1251, shortly after becoming the lieutenant ("bailli") of Jerusalem on behalf of the regent, Henry of Cyprus, John called a council of liegemen in the palace of his relatives, the lords of Beirut, in Acre.There he proposed that the courts employ scribes to keep written records in the French language and that the Haute Cour of Jerusalem should do the same, sealing their records in a locked chest, the keys to which were to be held by the regent or his lieutenant and two elected liegemen.These reforms were accepted by the barons.