By Hook or By Crook

I have met with it somewhere, but have lost my note, that Hooke and Crooke were two judges, who in their day decided most unconscientiously whenever the interests of the crown were affected, and it used to be said that the king could get anything by Hooke or by Crooke. Query, is *this* the origin of the phrase? If I cannot give my authority, perhaps "J.R.F." may be able to give his, for deriving it from "*Forest Customs*?"