OUR LEGAL HERITAGE The first thousand years: 600 - 1600 King AEthelbert - Queen Elizabeth

Part 3 out of 7

A will required two witnesses. The testator could name an
executor, but if he did not, the next of kin was the executor. A
will could not be made by a man on his death bed because he may
well have lost his memory and reason. Also, he could not give to
a younger son if in so doing, he would deprive his lawful heir.
But he could give a marriage gift to a daughter regardless of the
lawful heir.

Usury was receiving back more than what was lent, such as
interest on a loan of money. When a usurer died, all his
moveables went to the King.

A villein may not buy his own freedom (because all that he has is
his lord's), but may be set free by his lord or by someone else
who buys his freedom for him. He shall also be freed if the lord
seduced his wife, drew his blood, or refused to bail him either
in a civil or criminal action in which he was afterwards cleared.
But a freed villein did not have status to plead in court, even
if he had been knighted. If his free status were tried in court,
only a freeman who was a witness to his being set free could
avail himself of the duel to decide the issue. However, if the
villein remained peacefully in a privileged town a year and a day
and was received into its guild as a citizen, then he was freed
from villeinage in every way.

A freeman who married a villein lost his freedom. If any parent
of a child was a villein, then the child was also a villein.

All shipwrecked persons shall be treated with kindness and none
of their goods or merchandise shall be taken from them.

If one kills another on a vessel, he shall be fastened to the
dead body and thrown with it into the sea.

If one steals from another on a vessel, he shall be shaven,
tarred and feathered, and turned ashore at the first land.

Passage on the Thames River may not be obstructed by damming up
the river on each side leaving a narrow outlet to net fish. All
such wears shall be removed.

- Judicial Procedure -

Henry II wanted all freemen to be equally protected by one system
of law and government. So he opened his court, the Royal Court,
to all people of free tenure. A court of five justices
professionally expert in the law sat in permanence, traveled with
the King, and on points of difficulty consulted with him. Other
professional justices, on eyre [journey], appeared periodically
in all shires of the nation. They came to perform many tasks
besides adjudging civil and criminal pleas, including
promulgating and enforcing new legislation, seeking out
encroachments on royal rights, reviewing the local communities'
and officials' performance of their public duties, imposing
penalties for failure to do them or for corruption, gathering
information about outlaws and non-performance of homage, and
assessing feudal escheats to the Crown, wardships to which the
King was entitled, royal advowsons, feudal aids owed to the King,
tallages of the burgesses, and debts owed to the Jews. assessing
feudal escheats to the Crown, wardships to which the King was
entitled, royal advowsons, feudal aids owed to the King, tallages
of the burgesses, and debts owed to the Jews; The decision-making
of justices in eyre begins the process which makes the custom of
the Royal Court the common law of the nation. The shire courts,
where the travelling justices heard all manner of business in the
shires, adopted the doctrines of the Royal Court, which then
acquired an appellate jurisdiction. The three royal courts and
justices in eyre all drew from the same small group of royal
justices.

Henry erected a basic, rational framework for legal processes
which drew from tradition but lent itself to continuous expansion
and adaptation.

The Royal Court was chiefly concerned with 1) the due regulation
and supervision of the conduct of local government, 2) the
ownership and possession of land held by free tenure, 3) the
repression of serious crime, and 4) the relations between the lay
and the ecclesiastical courts.

The doctrine of tenure applied universally to the land law formed
the basis for judicial procedure in determining land rights.
Those who held lands "in fee" from the King in turn subinfeudated
their land to men of lesser rank. The concept of tenure covered
the earl, the knight (knight's service), the church
(frank-almoin), the tenant who performed labor services, and the
tenant who paid a rent (socage). Other tenures were: serjeanty
[providing an implement of war or performing a nonmilitary
office] and burgage. All hold the land of some lord and
ultimately of the King.

Henry was determined to protect lawful seisin of land and issued
assizes [legal promulgations] giving the Royal Court authority to
decide land law issues which had not been given justice in the
shire or lord's court. These included issues of disseisin
[ejectment] of a person's free tenement or of his common of
pasture which belonged to his freehold. Though this petty assize
only provided a swift preliminary action to protect possession
pending the lengthy and involved action [grand assize] on the
issue of which party had the juster claim or ultimate right of
seisin,the latter action was only infrequently invoked. The
temptation of a strong man to seize a neighbor's land to reap
its profits for a long time until the neighbor could prove and
enforce his right was deterred. Any such claim of recent
dispossession [novel disseisin] had to be made within three years
of the disseisin.

An assize [now a judicial body] of recognition viewed the land in
question and answered these questions of fact: 1) Was the
plaintiff disseised of the freeholdin question, unjustly and
without judgment? 2) Did the defendant commit the disseisin?
Testimony of a warrantor (or an attorney sent by him in his
place) or a charter of warranty served to prove seisin by gift,
sale, or exchange. No pleadings were necessary and the action
could proceed and judgment given even without the presence of the
defendant. The justices amerced the losing party with a monetary
penalty. A successful plaintiff might be awarded damages to
compensate for the loss of revenue. Eventually royal justices
acquired authority to decide the ultimate question of right to
land using the grand assize and the alternative of an assize
instead of the traditional procedures which ended in trial by
battle.

There was also a writ for issues of inheritance of land. By law
the tenure of a person who died seised of a tenure in a lord's
demesne which was hereditary [seisin of fee] returned to the
lord, who had to give it to the heir of the decedent. If the lord
refused and kept it for himself or gave it to someone else, the
heir could sue in the Royal Court, which would decide whether the
ancestor was seised as of fee in his demesne, if the plaintiff
was the nearest heir, and whether the ancestor had died, gone on
a crusade but not returned, or had become a monk.

Issues of seisin were brought to the Royal Court by a contestant
in a local court who "put himself [or herself] upon the King's
grand assize". Then his action would be removed to the Royal
Court. The assize would consist of twelve knights from the
district who were elected by four knights and who were known as
truthful men and who were likely to possess knowledge of the
facts.

The tenant could object to any of the twelve knights for just
cause as determined by the court. Each of the twelve gave an oath
as to whether the plaintiff's or the defendant's position was
correct. If any did not know the truth of the matter, others were
found until twelve agreed [the recognitors] in favor of one side.
Perjury was punished by forfeiture of all one's goods and
chattels to the King and at least one year's imprisonment.

Alternately, the tenant-defendant could still chose trial by
duel. A duel was fought between the parties or their champions.
The losing party of a duel had to pay a fine of 60s.

However, if the parties were relatives, neither the assize nor
the duel was available to them, but the matter had to be decided
by the law of inheritance. Nor was burgage tenure usually decided
by assize.

This assize procedure extended in time to all other types of
civil actions.

Also removable to the Royal Court from the shire courts were
issues of a lord's claim to a person as his villein (duel not
available), service or relief due to a lord, dower rights, a
creditor's refusal to restore a gage [something given as
security] to a debtor who offered payment or a deposit, money due
to a lender, a seller, or a person to whom one had an obligation
under a charter, fish or harvest or cattle taken from lands
unjustly occupied, cattle taken from pasture, rights to enjoy a
common, to stop troubling someone's transport, to make
restitution of land wrongfully occupied, to make a lord's bailiff
account to him for the profits of the manor.

A person who felt he had not had justice in the manor court could
appeal to the King for a writ of right after the manor court's
decision or for a writ praecipe during the manor court's
proceeding.

The Royal Court also decided disputes regarding baronies,
nuisance or encroachments on royal land or public ways or public
waterways, such as diverting waters from their right course and
issues of nuisance by the making or destroying of a ditch or the
destruction of a pond by a mill to the injury of a person's
freehold. Other pleas of the Crown were: insult to the royal
dignity, treason, breaches of safe-conducts, and injury to the
King's servants.

Henry involved the Royal Court in many criminal issues, formerly
decided in the shire and hundred courts. To detect crimes, he
required royal officers to routinely ask selected
representatives: knights or other landholders, of every
neighborhood if any person were suspected of any murder, robbery,
etc. A traveling royal justice or a sheriff would then hold an
inquest, in which the representatives answered by oath what
people were reputed to have done certain crimes. They made such
inquiries through assizes of presentment, usually composed of
twelve men from each hundred and four men for each township.
(These later evolved into grand juries). These assizes were an
ancient institution in many parts of the country. They consisted
of representatives of the hundreds, usually knights, and villages
who testified under oath to all crimes committed in their
neighborhood, and indicted those they suspected as responsible
and those harboring them. What the assize did was to insist upon
the adoption of a standard procedure everywhere systematically.
The procedure was made more regular instead of depending on crime
waves. If indicted, the suspected persons were then sent to the
ordeal. There was no trial by compurgation, which was abolished
by Henry. If determined guilty, he forfeited his chattels to the
King and his land reverted to his landlord. If he passed the
ordeal but was ill-famed in the community, he could be banished
from the community. Later the ordeal was abolished.

As before, a person could also be brought to trial by the
accusation of the person wronged. If the accused still denied the
charge after the accuser testified and the matter investigated by
inquiries and interrogation and then analyzed, a duel was held,
unless the accuser was over the age of sixty or maimed, in which
case the accused went to the ordeal.

Criminal matters such as killing the King or sedition or
betraying the nation or the army, fraudulent concealment of
treasure trove [finding a hoard of coins which had been buried
when danger approached], breach of the King's peace, homicide,
murder (homicide for which there were no eye-witnesses), burning
(a town, house, men, animals or other chattel for hatred or
revenge), robbery, rape and falsifying (e.g. false charters or
false measures or false money) were punishable by death or loss
of limb. House-breaking, harboring outlaws, the royal perquisites
of shipwreck and the beasts of the sea which were stranded on the
coast were also punishable in the Royal Court.

The Royal Court had grown substantially and was not always
presided over by the King. To avoid court agents from having too
much discretionary power, there was a systematic procedure for
bringing cases to the Royal Court. First, a plaintiff had to
apply to the King's Chancery for a standardized writ into which
the cause had to fit. The plaintiff had to pay a fee and provide
a surety that the plea was brought in good faith. The progress of
the suit was controlled at crucial points by precisely formulated
writs to the sheriff, instructing him for instance, to put the
disputed property under royal protection pending a decision, to
impanel an assize and have it view the property in advance of the
justices' arrival, to ascertain a point of fact material to the
plea, oor to summon a 'warrantor' to support a claim by the
defendant.

The Royal Court kept a record on its cases on parchment kept
rolled up: its "rolls". The oldest roll of 1194 is almost
completely comprised of land cases.

Anyone could appoint an agent, an "attorney", to appear in court
on his behalf, it being assumed that the principal could not be
present. The principal was then bound by the actions of his
agent. The common law system became committed to the "adversary
system" with the parties struggling judicially against each
other.

The Royal Court took jurisdiction over issues of whether certain
land was civil or ecclesiastical [assize utrum], and therefore
whether the land owed services or payment to the Crown or not. It
also heard issues of disturbance of advowson, a complex of rights
to income from a church and to the selection of a parson for the
church [assize of darrien presentment]. Many churches had been
built by a lord on his manor for his villeins. The lord had then
appointed a parson and provided for his upkeep out of the income
of the church. In later times, the lord's chosen parson was
formally appointed by the bishop. In the twelfth century, many
lords had given their advowsons to abbeys.

As before, the land of any person who had been outlawed or
convicted of a felony escheated to his lord. His moveable goods
and chattels became the King's.

The manor court heard cases which arose out of the unfree tenures
of the lord's peasantry.

The honorial court, part of the manor court, heard distraint,
also called "distress", issues. Distraint was a landlord's method
of forcing a tenant to perform the services of his fief. To
distrain by the fief, a lord first obtained a judgment of his
court. Otherwise, he distrained only by goods and chattels
without judgment of his court. A distraint was merely a security
to secure a person's services, if he agreed he owed them, or his
attendance in court, if he did not agree that he owed them. Law
and custom restricted the type of goods and chattels
distrainable, and the time and manner of distraint. For instance,
neither clothes, household utensils, nor a riding horse was
distrainable. The lord could not use the chattels taken while
they were in his custody. If cattle in custody were not
accessible to the tenant, the lord had to feed them at his
expense. The lord, if he were not the King, could not sell the
chattel. The action of replevin was available to the tenant to
recover property which had been wrongly distressed. This court
also determined inheritance and dower issues.

The court of the vill enforced the village ordinances. The
hundred court dealt with the petty crimes of lowly men in the
neighborhood of a few vills. The shire and borough courts heard
cases of felonies, accusations against freemen, tort, and debts.
The knights make the shire courts work as legal and
administrative agencies of the Crown.

Admiralty issues (since no assize could be summoned on the high
seas), and tenement issues of land held in frankalmoin where the
tenant was a cleric were heard in the ecclesiastical courts.

The church copied the assize procedure developed by the Royal
Court to detect ecclesiastical offenses. Trial was still by
compurgation. Bishops could request the Chancery to imprison an
offender who had remained excommunicant for forty days, until he
made amends. Chancery complied as a matter of course. This went
on for six centuries.

The delineations of jurisdiction among these courts was confused
and there was much competing and overlapping of jurisdictions.
However, the court could appoint arbitrators or suggest to the
parties to compromise to avoid the harshness of a decisive
judgment which might drive the losing party to violent self-help.

The office of coroner was established in the last years of
Richard's reign to determine if sudden deaths were accidental or
due to murder.

Chief Justice Ranulph Glanville wrote a treatise on the writs
which could be brought in the Royal Court and the way they could
be used. It was a practical manual of procedure and of the law
administered in the Royal Court.

Chapter 7

- The Times 1215-1272 -

Baron landowners' semi-fortified stone manor houses were improved
and extended. They were usually quadrangular around a central
courtyard. Ceilings were now made of tiles supplied by the tile
craft, which baked the tiles in kilns or over an open fire.
Sometimes the lord had his own parlor, with a sleeping loft above
it. Having a second floor necessitated a fireplace in the wall so
the smoke could go up two floors to the roof. Other rooms each
had a fireplace. Windows of large houses were of opaque glass
supplied by a glass-making craft. The glass was thick, uneven,
and greenish in color. The kitchen was often a separate room
because of the hazard of fire and had a furnace and ovens.
Sometimes there was a separate room for a dairy.

The barons now managed and developed their estates to be as
productive as possible, often using the successful management
techniques of church estates. They kept records of their fields,
tenants, services owed by each tenant, and duties of the manor
officers, such as supervision of the ploughing and harrowing.
Annually, the manor's profit or loss for the year was calculated.
Most manors were self-supporting except that iron for tools and
horseshoes and salt for curing usually had to be obtained
elsewhere. Wine, tar, canvas and millstones were imports from
other countries. Sheep were kept in such large numbers that they
were susceptible to a new disease "scab".

Manors averaged about ten miles distance between eachother, the
land in between being unused and called "wasteland". Statutes
after a civil war proscribing the retaking of land discouraged
the enclosure of waste land.

Some villeins bought out their servitude by paying a substitute
to do his service or paying his lord a firm (from hence, the
words farm and farmer) sum to hire an agricultural laborer in his
place. This made it possible for a farm laborer to till one
continuous piece of land instead of scattered strips.

Looms were now mounted with two bars. The clothing of most people
was made at home, even sandals. The village tanner and bootmaker
supplied long pieces of soft leather for more protection than
sandals. Tanning mills replaced some hand labor. The professional
hunter of wolves, lynx, or otters supplied head coverings. Every
village had a smith and possibly a carpenter for construction of
ploughs and carts. The smith obtained coal from coal fields for
heating the metal he worked. Horse harnesses were home-made from
hair and hemp.

Most men wore a knife because of the prevalence of murder and
robbery. It was an every day event for a murderer to flee to
sanctuary in a church, which would then be surrounded by his
pursuers while the coroner was summoned. Usually, the fugitive
would confess and agree to leave the nation and never return.

It had been long customary for the groom to endow his bride in
public at the church door. This was to keep her and her children
if he died first. If dower was not specified, it was understood
to be one-third of all lands and tenements.

The county offices were: sheriff, coroner, escheator, and
constable or bailiff. There were 28 sheriffs for 38 counties. The
sheriff was a political appointee of the King and employed a
deputy or undersheriff, who was a lawyer, and clerks. If there
was civil commotion or contempt of royal authority, the sheriff
had power to raise a posse of armed men to restore order [posse
comitatus: power of the county]. There were about five coroners
in each county and they served for a number of years. They were
professionals chosen locally under the sheriff's supervision. The
escheator was appointed annually by the Treasurer to administer
the Crown's rights in feudal land in the county. The constables
and bailiffs operated at the hundred and parish level to detect
crime and keep the peace. They assisted sheriffs and Justices of
the Peace, organized "watches" for criminals and vagrants at the
village level, and raised the "hue and cry" along the highway and
from village to village in pursuit of offenders who had committed
felony or robbery in their districts.

Everyone was taught to read and write in English. Even obscure
villages gathered children together for this schooling. Boys of
noblemen were taught reading, writing, Latin, a musical
instrument, athletics, riding, and gentlemanly conduct. Girls
were taught reading, writing, music, dancing, and perhaps
household nursing and first aid, spinning, embroidery, and
gardening. Girls of high social position were also taught riding
and hawking. Grammar schools taught, in Latin, grammar, logic
[dialectic], and rhetoric [art of public speaking and debate].
The teacher possessed the only complete copy of the Latin text,
and most of the school work was done orally. Though books were
few and precious, the students read several Latin works. Girls
and boys of high social position usually had private teachers for
grammar school, while boys of lower classes were sponsored at
grammar schools such as those at Oxford. Discipline was
maintained by the birch or rod.

There was no examination for admission as an undergraduate to
Oxford, but a knowledge of Latin with some skill in speaking
Latin was a necessary background. The students came from all
backgrounds. Some had their expenses paid by their parents, while
others had the patronage of a churchman, a religious house, or a
wealthy layman.

A student at Oxford would become a master after graduating from a
seven year course of study of the seven liberal arts: [grammar,
rhetoric (the source of law), Aristotelian logic (which
differentiates the true from the false), arithmetic, including
fractions and ratios, (the foundation of order), geometry,
including methods of finding the length of lines, the area of
surfaces, and thevolume of solids, (the science of measurement),
astronomy (the most noble of the sciences because it is connected
with divinity and theology), music, and Aristotle's philosophy of
physics, metaphysics, and ethics; and then lecturing and leading
disputations for two years. He also had to write a thesis on some
chosen subject and defend it against the faculty. A Master's
degree gave one the right to teach. Further study for four years
led to a doctorate in one of the professions: theology and canon
or civil law.

There were about 1,500 students in Oxford. They drank, played
dice, quarreled a lot and begged at street corners. There were
mob fights between students from the north and students from the
south and between students and townsmen. But when the mayor of
Oxford hanged two students accused of being involved in the
killing of a townswoman, many masters and students left for
Cambridge. In 1214, a charter created the office of Chancellor of
the university at Oxford. He was responsible for law and order
and, through his court, could fine, imprison, and excommunicate
offenders and expel undesirables such as prostitutes from the
town. He had authority over all crimes involving scholars, except
murder and mayhem. The Chancellor summoned and presided over
meetings of the masters and came to be elected by indirect vote
by the masters who had schools, usually no more than a room or
hall with a central hearth which was hired for lectures. Students
paid for meals there. Corners of the room were often partitioned
off for private study. At night, some students slept on the straw
on the floor. Six hours of sleep were considered sufficient.

In 1221 the Friars established their chief school at Oxford. They
were bound by oaths of poverty, obedience, and chastity, but were
not confined within the walls of a monastery. They walked
barefoot from place to lace preaching. They begged for their food
and lodgings. They replaced monks, who had become self-indulgent,
as the most vital spiritual force among the people. In 1231, the
King ordered that every student must have his name on the roll of
a master and the masters had to keep a list of those attending
his lectures.

The first college was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, former
Chancellor to the King, at Oxford. A college had the living
arrangements of a Hall, with the addition of monastic-type rules.
A warden and about 30 scholars lived and ate meals together in
the college buildings. Merton College's founding documents
provided that: "The house shall be called the House of the
Scholars of Merton, and it shall be the residence of the Scholars
forever. . . There shall be a constant succession of scholars
devoted to the study of letters, who shall be bound to employ
themselves in the study of Arts or Philosophy, the Canons or
Theology. Let there also be one member of the collegiate body,
who shall be a grammarian, and must entirely devote himself to
the study of grammar; let him have the care of the students in
grammar, and to him also let the more advanced have recourse
without a blush, when doubts arise in their faculty. . . There is
to be one person in every chamber, where Scholars are resident,
of more mature age than the others, who is to make his report of
their morals and advancement in learning to the Warden. . . The
Scholars who are appointed to the duty of studying in the House
are to have a common table, and a dress as nearly alike as
possible. . . The members of the College must all be present
together, as far as their leisure serves, at the canonical hours
and celebration of masses on holy and other days. . . The
Scholars are to have a reader at meals, and in eating together
they are to observe silence, and to listen to what is read. In
their chambers, they must abstain from noise and interruption of
their fellows; and when they speak they must use the Latin
language. . . A Scrutiny shall be held in the House by the Warden
and the Seniors, and all the Scholars there present, three times
a year; a diligent enquiry is to be instituted into the life,
conduct, morals, and progress in learning, of each and all; and
what requires correction then is to be corrected, and excesses
are to be visited with condign punishment. . ."

Issues frequently argued concerned the newly discovered
philosophies of Aristotle vis a vis the accepted Christian
philosophy. Aristotle emphasized the intellectual use of reason
as a road to understanding whereas the church had always taught
that understanding came from revelation by God.

Roger Bacon, an Oxford master, applied mathematical knowledge to
natural phenomena such as metal work, mineral work, the making of
weapons, agriculture, and the remedies and charms of wizards and
magicians. He studied angles of reflection in plane, spherical,
cylindrical, and conical mirrors, in both their concave and
convex aspects. He did experiments in refraction in different
media, e.g. air, water, and glass, and knew that the human cornea
refracted light and that the human eye lens was doubly convex.
(However it was another 400 years before the discovery of the
image on the retina.) He comprehended the magnifying power of
convex lenses and conceptualized the combination of lenses which
would increase the power of vision by magnification. Soon
afterwards, eyeglasses were available to correct farsightedness.

Bacon studied gravity and the propagation of force, specifically
illustrated by the radiation of light and heat. He realized that
rays of light pass so much faster than those of sound or smell
that the time is imperceptible to humans. He knew that rays of
heat and sound penetrate all matter without our awareness and
that opaque bodies offered resistance to passage of light rays.
This was the beginning of the science of physics.

He took the empirical knowledge as to a few metals and their
oxides and some of the principal alkalis, acids, and salts to the
abstract level of metals as compound bodies the elements of which
might be separated and recomposed and the general concept of
generation of liquids, gases, and solids, which was the beginning
of the science of chemistry. He made experiments that led the way
to saltpeter being made to explode, which led the way to the
formulation of gunpowder. He believed that the principle of
explosive energy would one day carry ships across the seas
without sails and propel carriages down the streets, and flying
machines. He knew the power of parabolic concave mirrors to cause
parallel rays to converge after reflexion to a focus and was
familiar with work done to produce a mirror that would induce
combustion at a fixed distance.

He studied man's physical nature, health, and disease, the
beginning of the science of biology and medicine. He opined that
the use of talismen was not to bring about a change, but to bring
the patient into a frame of mind more conducive to physical
healing.

Bacon studied different kinds of plants and the differences
between arable land, forest land, pasture land, and garden land.

Like other educated men of his day (and those of the 13th through
the 16th century), he believed that the earth was the center of
the universe and in astrology, that is, that the position of the
stars and planets influenced man and other earthly things. For
instance, the position of the stars at a person's birth
determined his character. The angle and therefore potency of the
sun's rays influenced climate, temperament, and changes of mortal
life such as disease and revolutions. There was a propitious time
to have a marriage, go on a journey, make war, and take herbal
medicine or be bled by leeches, the latter of which was
accompanied by religious ceremony. Cure was by God, with medical
practitioners only relieving suffering. Pressure and binding were
applied to bleeding. Arrow and sword wounds to the skin or to any
protruding intestine were washed with warm water and sewn up with
needle and silk thread. Ribs were spread apart by a wedge to
remove arrow heads. Fractured bones were splinted or encased in
plaster. Dislocations were remedied. Hernias were trussed.
Bladder stones blocking urination were pushed back into the
bladder or removed through an artificial opening in the bladder.

Bacon studied the planetary motions and astronomical tables to
forecast future events. He did calculations on days in a month
and days in a year which later contributed to the legal
definition of a leap year. He knew about magnetic poles
attracting if different and repelling if the same and the
relation of magnets' poles to those of the heavens and earth. He
calculated the circumference of the world and the latitude and
longitude of terrestrial positions, which was the beginning of
the study of geography. He foresaw sailing around the world and
pointed the way to the Copernican astronomy, which was founded on
the concept of the earth and planets revolving around the sun.

His contribution to the development of science was abstracting
the method of experiment from the concrete problem to see its
bearing and importance as a universal method of research. He
advocated changing education to include studies of the natural
world using observation, exact measurement, and experiments.

The making and selling of goods diverged e.g. as the cloth
merchant severed from the tailor and the leather merchant severed
from the butcher. These craftsmen formed themselves into guilds.
They sought charters to require all craftsmen to belong to the
guild of their craft, to have legal control of the craft work,
and be able to expel any craftsman for inobedience. These guilds
determined the wages and working conditions of the craftsmen and
petitioned the borough authorities for ordinances restraining
trade, for instance by controlling the admission of outsiders to
the craft, preventing foreigners from selling in the town except
at fairs, limiting purchases of raw materials to suppliers within
the town, forbidding night work, restricting the number of
apprentices to each master craftsmen, and requiring a minimum
number of years for apprenticeships. In return, these guilds
assured quality control. In some boroughs, they did work for the
town, such as maintaining certain defensive towers or walls of
the town near their respective wards. In some boroughs, fines for
infractions of these regulations were split between the guild and
the government.

This jurisdiction was sought from the towns governments, which
were controlled by the merchant guilds, with great difficulty. In
London, this power was broken in 1261 by the craftsmen forcing
their way into the town-mote. By this brute show of strength,
they set aside the opinion of the magnates and selected their own
candidate to be mayor.

The citizens of London had a common seal for the city. London
merchants traveled throughout the nation with goods to sell
exempt from tolls. Most of the London aldermen were woolmongers,
vintners, skinners, and grocers by turns or carried on all these
branches of commerce at once. There are three inns in London.
Hospitals such as "Bethleham Hospital" were established in
London. Only tiles were used for roofing in London, because wood
shingles were fire hazards and fires in London had been frequent.
Some areas near London are disclaimed by the King to be royal
forest land, so all citizens could hunt there and till their land
there without interference by the royal foresters.

A gold penny waminted, which was worth 2s. of silver. Jews were
allowed to make loans with interest up to 2d. a week for 20s.
lent.

Ships had two masts, decks, and cabins. On the coasts there were
lights and beacons. Harbors at river mouths were kept from
silting up. Ships were loaded from piers. The construction of
London Bridge had just been finished. Coal was mined. Bricks
began to be imported for building.

Newcastle-on-Tyne received these new rights:

1. And that they shall justly have their lands and tenures and
mortgages and debts, whoever owes them to them.

2. Concerning their lands and tenures within the town, right
shall be done to them according to the custom of the city Winton.

3. And of all their debts which are lent in Newcastle-on-Tyne and
of mortgages there made, pleas shall be held at
Newcastle-on-Tyne.

4. None of them shall plead outside the walls of the City of
Newcastle-on-Tyne on any plea, except pleas of tenures outside
the city and except the minters and my ministers.

5. That none of them be distrained by any without the said city
for the repayment of any debt to any person for which he is not
capital debtor or surety.

6. That the burgesses shall be quit of toll and lastage [duty on
a ship's cargo] and pontage [tax for repairing bridges] and have
passage back and forth.

7. Moreover, for the improvement of the city, I have granted them
that they shall be quit of year's gift and of scotale [pressure
to buy ale at the sheriff's tavern], so that my sheriff of
Newcastle-on-Tyne or any other minister shall not make a scotale.

8. And whosoever shall seek that city with his merchandise,
whether foreigners or others, of whatever place they may be, they
may come sojourn and depart in my safe peace, on paying the due
customs and debts, and any impediment to these rights is
prohibited.

9. We have granted them also a merchant guild.

10. And that none of them [in the merchant guild] shall fight a
duel.

The King no longer lives on his own from income from his own
lands, but takes money from the treasury. Elected men from the
baronage met with the King and his council in several conferences
called Parliaments to discuss the levying of taxes and the
solution of difficult legal cases, and to receive petitions.
Statutes were enacted. Earl Montfort and certain barons forced
King Henry III to summon a Parliament in 1265 in which the common
people were represented officially by four knights from every
shire [county] and two burgesses from every borough.

- The Law -

The barons forced successive Kings to sign the Magna Carta until
it became the law of the land. It became the first statute of the
official statute book. It's provisions express the principle that
a King is bound by the law and is not above it. However, there is
no redress if the King breaches the law.

The Magna Carta was issued by John in 1215. A revised version was
issued by Henry III in 1225 with the forest clauses separated out
into a forest charter. The two versions are replicated together,
with the formatting of each indicated in the titles below.

{Magna Carta - 1215}
Magna Carta - 1215 & 1225
MAGNA CARTA - 1225

{John, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland,
Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou: To the
Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Justiciaries,
Foresters, Sheriffs, Reeves, Ministers, and all Bailiffs and
others, his faithful subjects, Greeting. Know ye that in the
presence of God, and for the health of our soul, and the souls of
our ancestors and heirs, to the honor of God, and the exaltation
of Holy Church, and amendment of our realm, by the advice of our
reverend Fathers, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of
all England, and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church; Henry,
Archbishop of Dublin; William of London, Peter of Winchester,
Jocelin of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of
Worcester, William of Coventry, and Benedict of Rochester,
Bishops; Master Pandulph, the Pope's subdeacon and familiar;
Brother Aymeric, Master of the Knights of the Temple in England;
and the noble persons, William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke;
William, Earl of Salisbury; William, Earl of Warren; William,
Earl of Arundel; Alan de Galloway, Constable of Scotland; Warin
Fitz-Gerald, Peter Fitz-Herbert, Hubert de Burgh, Seneshal of
Poitou, Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz-Herbert, Thomas Basset,
Alan Basset, Philip Daubeny, Robert de Roppelay, John Marshall,
John Fitz-Hugh, and others, our liegemen:}

HENRY BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF ENGLAND, LORD OF IRELAND, DUKE
OF NORMANDY AND GUYAN AND EARL OF ANJOU, TO ALL ARCHBISHOPS,
BISHOPS, ABBOTS, PRIORS, EARLS, BARONS, SHERIFFS, PROVOSTS,
OFFICERS AND TO ALL BAILIFFS AND OTHER OUR FAITHFUL SUBJECTS
WHICH SHALL SEE THIS PRESENT CHARTER, GREETING.

KNOW YE THAT WE, UNTO THE HONOR OF ALMIGHTY GOD, AND FOR THE
SALVATION OF THE SOULS OF OUR PROGENITORS AND SUCCESSORS KINGS OF
ENGLAND, TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF HOLY CHURCH AND AMENDMENT OF OUR
REALM, OF OUR MEER AND FREE WILL, HAVE GIVEN AND GRANTED TO ALL
ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, ABBOTS, PRIORS, EARLS, BARONS, AND TO ALL
FREE MEN OF THIS OUR REALM, THESE LIBERTIES FOLLOWING, TO BE KEPT
IN OUR KINGDOM OF ENGLAND FOREVER.

[I. A CONFIRMATION OF LIBERTIES]

First, we have granted to God, and by this our present Charter
confirmed, for us and our heirs forever, that the English Church
shall be free and enjoy her whole rights and her liberties
inviolable. {And that we will this so to be observed appears from
the fact that we of our own free will, before the outbreak of the
dissensions between us and our barons, granted, confirmed, and
procured to be confirmed by Pope Innocent III the freedom of
elections, which is considered most important and necessary to
the English Church, which Charter we will both keep ourself and
will it to be kept with good faith by our heirs forever.} We have
also granted to all the free men of our realm, for us and our
heirs forever, all the liberties underwritten, to have and to
hold to them and their heirs of us and our heirs.

[II. THE RELIEF OF THE KING'S TENANT OF FULL AGE]

If any of our earls, barons, or others who hold of us in chief by
knight's service dies, and at the time of his death his heir is
of full age and owes to us a relief, he shall have his
inheritance on payment of [no more than] the old relief; to wit,
the heir or heirs of an earl, for an entire earldom, 100 pounds
[2,000s.]; the heir or heirs of a baron of an entire barony, {100
pounds} 100 MARKS [67 POUNDS OR 1340s.]; the heir or heirs of an
entire knight's fee, 100s. at the most [about 1/3 of a knight's
annual income]; and he who owes less shall give less, according
to the old custom of fees.

[III. THE WARDSHIP OF AN HEIR WITHIN AGE. THE HEIR A KNIGHT]

BUT IF THE HEIR OF SUCH BE UNDER AGE, HIS LORD SHALL NOT HAVE THE
WARD OF HIM, NOR OF HIS LAND, BEFORE THAT HE HAS TAKEN OF HIM
HOMAGE. If, however, any such heir is under age and in ward, he
shall have his inheritance without relief or fine when he comes
of age, THAT IS, TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE. SO THAT IF SUCH AN HEIR
NOT OF AGE IS MADE A KNIGHT, YET NEVERTHELESS HIS LAND SHALL
REMAIN IN THE KEEPING OF HIS LORD UNTO THE AFORESAID TERM.

[IV. NO WASTE SHALL BE MADE BY A GUARDIAN IN WARD'S LANDS]

The guardian of the land of any heir thus under age shall take
therefrom only reasonable issues, customs, and services, without
destruction or waste of men or goods. And if we commit the
custody of any such land to the sheriff or any other person
answerable to us for the issues of the same land, and he commits
destruction or waste, we will take an amends from him and
recompense therefore. And the land shall be committed to two
lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall be answerable for
the issues of the same land to us or to whomsoever we shall have
assigned them. And if we give or sell the custody of any such
land to any man, and he commits destruction or waste, he shall
lose the custody, which shall be committed to two lawful and
discreet men of that fee, who shall, in like manner, be
answerable to us as has been aforesaid.

[V. GUARDIANS SHALL MAINTAIN THE INHERITANCE OF THEIR WARDS AND
OF BISHOPRICKS,
ETC.]

The guardian, so long as he shall have the custody of the land,
shall keep up and maintain the houses, parks, fishponds, pools,
mills, and other things pertaining thereto, out of the issues of
the same, and shall restore to the heir when he comes of age, all
his land stocked with {ploughs and tillage, according as the
season may require and the issues of the land can reasonable
bear} PLOUGHS AND ALL OTHER THINGS, AT THE LEAST AS HE RECEIVED
IT. ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE OBSERVED IN THE CUSTODIES OF VACANT
ARCHBISHOPRICKS, BISHOPRICKS, ABBEYS, PRIORIES, CHURCHES, AND
DIGNITIES, WHICH APPERTAIN TO US; EXCEPT THIS, THAT SUCH CUSTODY
SHALL NOT BE SOLD.

[VI. HEIRS SHALL BE MARRIED WITHOUT DISPARAGEMENT]

Heirs shall be married without loss of station. {And the marriage
shall be made known to the heir's nearest of kin before it is
contracted.}

[VII. A WIDOW SHALL HAVE HER MARRIAGE, INHERITANCE, AND
QUERENTINE. THE KING'S WIDOW, ETC.]

A widow, after the death of her husband, shall immediately and
without difficulty have her marriage portion [property given to
her by her father] and inheritance. She shall not give anything
for her marriage portion, dower, or inheritance which she and her
husband held on the day of his death, and she may remain in her
husband's house for forty days after his death, within which time
her dower shall be assigned to her. IF THAT HOUSE IS A CASTLE AND
SHE LEAVES THE CASTLE, THEN A COMPETENT HOUSE SHALL FORTHWITH BE
PROVIDED FOR HER, IN WHICH SHE MAY HONESTLY DWELL UNTIL HER DOWER
IS ASSIGNED TO HER AS AFORESAID; AND IN THE MEANTIME HER
REASONABLE ESTOVERS OF THE COMMON, ETC.

No widow shall be compelled to marry so long as she has a mind to
live without a husband, provided, however, that she gives
security that she will not marry without our assent, if she holds
of us, or that of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of
another.

[VIII. HOW SURETIES SHALL BE CHARGED TO THE KING]

Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any
debt as long as the debtor's goods and chattels suffice to pay
the debt AND THE DEBTOR HIMSELF IS READY TO SATISFY THEREFORE.
Nor shall the debtor's sureties be distrained as long as the
debtor is able to pay the debt. If the debtor fails to pay, not
having the means to pay, OR WILL NOT PAY ALTHOUGH ABLE TO PAY,
then the sureties shall answer the debt. And, if they desire,
they shall hold the debtor's lands and rents until they have
received satisfaction of that which they had paid for him, unless
the debtor can show that he has discharged his obligation to
them.

{If anyone who has borrowed from the Jews any sum of money, great
or small, dies before the debt has been paid, the heir shall pay
no interest on the debt as long as he remains under age, of
whomsoever he may hold. If the debt falls into our hands, we will
take only the principal sum named in the bond.}

{And if any man dies indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have
her dower and pay nothing of that debt; if the deceased leaves
children under age, they shall have necessaries provided for them
in keeping with the estate of the deceased, and the debt shall be
paid out of the residue, saving the service due to the deceased's
feudal lords. So shall it be done with regard to debts owed
persons
other than Jews.}

[IX. THE LIBERTIES OF LONDON AND OTHER CITIES AND TOWNS
CONFIRMED]

The City of London shall have all her old liberties and free
customs, both by land and water. Moreover, we will and grant that
all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their
liberties and free customs.

{No scutage or aid shall be imposed in our realm unless by common
counsel thereof, except to ransom our person, make our eldest son
a knight, and once to marry our eldest daughter, and for these
only a reasonable aid shall be levied. So shall it be with regard
to aids from the City of London.}

{To obtain the common counsel of the realm concerning the
assessment of aids (other than in the three aforesaid cases) or
of scutage, we will have the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls,
and great barons individually summoned by our letters; we will
also have our sheriffs and bailiffs summon generally all those
who hold lands directly of us, to meet on a fixed day, but with
at least forty days' notice, and at a fixed place. In all such
letters of summons, we will explain the reason therefor. After
summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed on the day
appointed, according to the advice of those who are present, even
though not all the persons summoned have come.}

{We will not in the future grant permission to any man to levy an
aid upon his free men, except to ransom his person, make his
eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter, and
on each of these occasions only a reasonable aid shall be
levied.}

[X. NONE SHALL DISTRAIN FOR MORE SERVICE THAN IS DUE.]

No man shall be compelled to perform more service for a knight's
fee nor any freehold than is due therefrom.

[XI. COMMON PLEAS SHALL NOT FOLLOW THE KING'S COURT]

People who have Common Pleas shall not follow our Court traveling
about the realm, but shall be heard in some certain place.

[XII. WHERE AND BEFORE WHOM ASSIZES SHALL BE TAKEN. ADJOURNMENT
FOR DIFFICULTY]

{Land assizes of novel disseisin, mort d'ancestor and darrein
presentment shall be heard only in the county where the property
is situated, and in this manner: We or, if we are not in the
realm, our Chief Justiciary, shall send two justiciaries through
each county four times a year [to clear and prevent backlog], and
they, together with four knights elected out of each county by
the people thereof, shall hold the said assizes in the county
court, on the day and in the place where that court meets.}

ASSIZES OF NOVEL DISSEISIN, MORT D'ANCESTOR SHALL BE HEARD ONLY
IN THE COUNTY WHERE THE PROPERTY IS SITUATED, AND IN THIS MANNER:
WE, OR IF WE ARE NOT IN THE REALM, OUR CHIEF JUSTICIARY, SHALL
SEND JUSTICIARIES THROUGH EACH COUNTY ONCE A YEAR, AND THEY
TOGETHER WITH KNIGHTS OF THAT COUNTY SHALL HOLD THE SAID ASSIZES
IN THE COUNTY.

{If the said assizes cannot be held on the day appointed, so many
of the knights and freeholders as were present on that day shall
remain as will be sufficient for the administration of justice,
according to the amount of business to be done.}

AND THOSE THINGS THAT AT THE COMING OF OUR FORESAID JUSTICIARIES,
BEING SENT TO TAKE THOSE ASSIZES IN THE COUNTIES, CANNOT BE
DETERMINED, SHALL BE ENDED BY THEM IN SOME OTHER PLACE IN THEIR
CIRCUIT; AND THOSE THINGS WHICH FOR DIFFICULTY OF SOME ARTICLES
CANNOT BE DETERMINED BY THEM, SHALL BE REFERRED TO OUR JUSTICES
OF THE BENCH AND THERE SHALL BE ENDED.

[XIII. ASSIZES OF DARREIN PRESENTMENT]

ASSIZES OF DARREIN PRESENTMENT SHALL ALWAYS BE TAKEN BEFORE OUR
JUSTICES OF THE BENCH AND THERE SHALL BE DETERMINED.

[XIV. HOW MEN OF ALL SORTS SHALL BE AMERCED AND BY WHOM]

A free man shall be amerced [made to pay a fine to the King] for
a small offence only according to the degree thereof, and for a
serious offence according to its magnitude, saving his position
and livelihood; and in like manner a merchant, saving his trade
and merchandise, and a villein saving his tillage, if they should
fall under our mercy. None of these amercements shall be imposed
except by the oath of honest men of the neighborhood.

Earls and barons shall be amerced only by their peers, and only
in accordance with the seriousness of the offense.

{No amercement shall be imposed upon a cleric's lay tenement,
except in the manner of the other persons aforesaid, and without
regard to the value of his ecclesiastical benefice.}

NO MAN OF THE CHURCH SHALL BE AMERCED EXCEPT IN ACCORDANCE WITH
THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE OFFENCE AND AFTER HIS LAY TENEMENT, BUT
NOT AFTER THE QUANTITY OF HIS SPIRITUAL BENEFICE.

[XV. MAKING OF BRIDGES AND BANKS]

No town or freeman shall be compelled to build bridges over
rivers OR BANKS except those bound by old custom and law to do
so.

[XVI. DEFENDING OF BANKS]

NO BANKS SHALL BE DEFENDED, FROM HENCEFORTH, BUT SUCH AS WERE IN
DEFENCE IN THE TIME OF KING HENRY [II] OUR GRANDFATHER, BY THE
SAME PLACES AND IN THE SAME BOUNDS AS IN HIS TIME.

[XVII. HOLDING PLEAS OF THE CROWN]

No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other of our bailiffs shall
hold pleas of our Crown [but only justiciars].

{All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and tithings (except our
demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, without any
increase.}

[XVIII. THE KING'S DEBTOR DYING, THE KING SHALL BE FIRST PAID]

If anyone holding a lay fee of us dies, and our sheriff or our
bailiff show our letters patent [public letter] of summons for a
debt due to us from the deceased, it shall be lawful for such
sheriff or bailiff to attach and list the goods and chattels of
the deceased found in the lay fee to the value of that debt, by
the sight and testimony of lawful men, so that nothing thereof
shall be removed therefrom until our whole debt is paid; then the
residue shall be given up to the executors to carry out the will
of the deceased. If there is no debt due from him to us, all his
chattels shall remain the property of the deceased, saving to his
wife and children their reasonable shares.

{If any free man dies intestate, his chattels shall be
distributed by his nearest kinfolk and friends, under supervision
of the Church, saving to each creditor the debts owed him by the
deceased.}

[XIX. PURVEYANCE FOR A CASTLE]

No constable or other of our bailiffs shall take grain or other
chattels of any man without immediate payment, unless the seller
voluntarily consents to postponement of payment. THIS APPLIES IF
THE MAN IS NOT OF THE TOWN WHERE THE CASTLE IS. BUT IF THE MAN IS
OF THE SAME TOWN AS WHERE THE CASTLE IS, THE PRICE SHALL BE PAID
TO HIM WITHIN 40 DAYS.

[XX. DOING OF CASTLE-GUARD]

No constable shall compel any knight to give money for keeping of
his castle in lieu of castle-guard when the knight is willing to
perform it in person or, if reasonable cause prevents him from
performing it himself, by some other fit man. Further, if we lead
or send him into military service, he shall be excused from
castle-guard for the time he remains in service by our command.

[XXI. TAKING OF HORSES, CARTS, AND WOOD]

No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or any other man, shall take
horses or carts of any free man for carriage without the owner's
consent. HE SHALL PAY THE OLD PRICE, THAT IS, FOR CARRIAGE WITH
TWO HORSES, 10d. A DAY; FOR THREE HORSES, 14d. A DAY. NO DEMESNE
CART OF ANY SPIRITUAL PERSON OR KNIGHT OR ANY LORD SHALL BE TAKEN
BY OUR BAILIFFS.

Neither we nor our bailiffs will take another man's wood for our
castles or for other of our necessaries without the owner's
consent.

[XXII. HOW LONG FELONS' LANDS SHALL BE HELD BY THE KING]

We will hold the lands of persons convicted of felony for only a
year and a day [to remove the chattels and moveables], after
which they shall be restored to the lords of the fees.

[XXIII. IN WHAT PLACE WEIRS SHALL BE REMOVED]

All fishweirs [obstructing navigation] shall be entirely removed
by the Thames and Medway rivers, and throughout England, except
upon the seacoast.

[XXIV. IN WHAT CASE A PRAECIPE IN CAPITE IS NOT GRANTABLE]

The writ called "praecipe in capite" shall not in the future be
granted to anyone respecting any freehold if thereby a free man
may not be tried in his lord's court.

[XXV. THERE SHALL BE BUT ONE MEASURE THROUGHOUT THE REALM]

There shall be one measure of wine throughout our realm, one
measure of ale, and one measure of grain, to wit, the London
quarter, and one breadth of dyed cloth, russets, and haberjets,
to wit, two {ells} YARDS within the selvages. As with measures so
shall it also be with weights.

[XXVI. INQUISITION OF LIFE AND LIMB]

Henceforth nothing shall be given or taken for a writ of
inquisition upon life or limb, but it shall be granted freely and
not denied.

[XXVII. TENURE OF THE KING IN SOCAGE AND OF ANOTHER BY KNIGHT'S
SERVICE. PETIT SERJEANTY.]

If anyone holds of us by fee farm, socage, or burgage, and also
holds land of another by knight's service, we will not by reason
of that fee farm, socage, or burgage have the wardship of his
heir, or the land which belongs to another man's fee. Nor will we
have the custody of such fee farm, socage, or burgage unless such
fee farm owe knight's service. We will not have the wardship of
any man's heir, or the land which he holds of another by knight's
service, by reason of any petty serjeanty which he holds of us by
service of rendering us knives, arrows, or the like.

[XXVIII. WAGES OF LAW SHALL NOT BE WITHOUT WITNESS]

In the future no bailiff shall upon his own unsupported
accusation put any man to trial or oath without producing
credible witnesses to the truth of the accusation.

[XXIX. NONE SHALL BE CONDEMNED WITHOUT TRIAL. JUSTICE SHALL NOT
BE SOLD OR DELAYED.]

No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised OF HIS FREEHOLD
OR LIBERTIES OR FREE CUSTOMS, OR BE outlawed, banished, or in any
way ruined, nor will we prosecute or condemn him, except by the
lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

To no one will we sell [by bribery], to none will we deny or
delay, right orjustice.

[XXX. MERCHANT STRANGERS COMING INTO THIS REALM SHALL BE WELL
USED]

All merchants shall have safe conduct to go and come out of and
into England, and to stay in and travel through England by land
and water, to buy and sell, without evil tolls, in accordance
with old and just customs, except, in time of war, such merchants
as are of a country at war with us. If any such be found in our
realm at the outbreak of war, they shall be detained, without
harm to their bodies or goods, until it be known to us or our
Chief Justiciary how our merchants are being treated in the
country at war with us. And if our merchants are safe there, then
theirs shall be safe with us.

{Henceforth anyone, saving his allegiance due to us, may leave
our realm and return safely and securely by land and water,
except for a short period in time of war, for the common benefit
of the realm.}

[XXXI. TENURE OF A BARONY COMING INTO THE KING'S HANDS BY
ESCHEAT]

If anyone dies holding of any escheat, such as the honor of
Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, {Lancaster,} or other escheats
which are in our hands and are baronies, his heir shall not give
any relief or do any service to us other than he would owe to the
baron, if such barony had been in the baron's hands. And we will
hold the escheat in the same manner in which the baron held it.
NOR SHALL WE HAVE, BY OCCASION OF ANY BARONY OR ESCHEAT, ANY
ESCHEAT OR KEEPING OF ANY OF OUR MEN, UNLESS HE WHO HELD THE
BARONY OR ESCHEAT ELSEWHERE HELD OF US IN CHIEF.

Persons dwelling outside the forest need not in the future come
before our justiciaries of the forest in answer to a general
summons unless they are impleaded or are sureties for any person
or persons attached for breach of forest laws.

[XXXII. LANDS SHALL NOT BE ALIENED TO THE PREJUDICE OF THE LORD'S
SERVICE]

NO FREEMAN FROM HENCEFORTH SHALL GIVE OR SELL ANY MORE OF HIS
LAND, BUT SO THAT OF THE RESIDUE OF THE LANDS THE LORD OF THE FEE
MAY HAVE THE SERVICE DUE TO HIM WHICH BELONGS TO THE FEE.

{We will appoint as justiciaries, constables, sheriffs, or
bailiffs only such men as know the law of the land and will keep
it well.}

[XXXIII. PATRONS OF ABBEYS SHALL HAVE THE CUSTODY OF THEM WHEN
VACANT]

All barons who had founded abbeys of which they have charters of
English Kings or old tenure, shall have the custody of the same
when vacant, as is their due.

All forests which have been created in our time shall forthwith
be disafforested. {So shall it be done with regard to river banks
which have been enclosed by fences in our time.}

{All evil customs concerning forests and warrens, foresters and
warreners, sheriffs and their officers, or riverbanks and their
conservators shall be immediately investigated in each county by
twelve sworn knights of such county, who are chosen by honest men
of that county, and shall within forty days after this inquest be
completely and irrevocably abolished, provided always that the
matter has first been brought to our knowledge, or that of our
justiciars, if we are not in England.}

{We will immediately return all hostages and charters delivered
to us by Englishmen as security for the peace or for the
performance of loyal service.}

{We will entirely remove from their offices the kinsmen of Gerald
de Athyes, so that henceforth they shall hold no office in
England: Engelard de Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew de
Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogne, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers,
Philip Mark and his brothers, and Geoffrey his nephew, and all
their followers.}

{As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from our realm all
foreign knights, crossbowmen, sergeants, and mercenaries, who
have come with horses and arms, to the hurt of the realm.}

{If anyone has been disseised or deprived by us, without the
legal judgment of his peers, of lands, castles, liberties, or
rights, we will immediately restore the same, and if any
disagreement arises on this, the matter shall be decided by
judgment of the twenty-five barons mentioned below in the clause
for securing the peace. With regard to all those things, however,
of which any man was disseised or deprived, without the legal
judgment of his peers, by King Henry [II] our Father or our
Brother King Richard, and which remain in our hands or are held
by others under our warranty, we shall have respite during the
term commonly allowed to the Crusaders, excepting those cases in
which a plea was begun or inquest made on our order before we
took the cross; when, however, we return from our pilgrimage, or
if perhaps we do not undertake it, we will at once do full
justice in these matters.}

{Likewise, we shall have the same respite in rendering justice
with respect to the disafforestation or retention of those
forests which Henry [II] our Father or Richard our Brother
afforested, and concerning custodies of lands which are of the
fee of another, which we hitherto have held by reason of the fee
which some person has held of us by knight's service, and to
abbeys founded on fees other than our own, in which the lord of
that feee asserts his right. When we return from our pilgrimage,
or if we do not undertake it, we will forthwith do full justice
to the complainants in these matters.}

[XXXIV. IN WHAT ONLY CASE A WOMAN SHALL HAVE AN APPEAL OF DEATH]

No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon a woman's appeal for
the death of any person other than her husband [since no woman
was expected to personally engage in trial by battle].

[XXXV. AT WHAT TIME SHALL BE KEPT A COUNTY COURT, SHERIFF'S TURN
AND A LEET (COURT OF CRIMINAL JURISDICTION EXCEPTING FELONIES)]

NO COUNTY COURT FROM HENCEFORTH SHALL BE HELD, BUT FROM MONTH TO
MONTH; AND WHERE GREATER TIME HAS BEEN USED, THERE SHALL BE
GREATER. NOR SHALL ANY SHERIFF, OR HIS BAILIFF, KEEP HIS TURN IN
THE HUNDRED BUT TWICE IN THE YEAR; AND NO WHERE BUT IN DUE PLACE
AND ACCUSTOMED TIME, THAT IS, ONCE AFTER EASTER, AND AGAIN AFTER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MICHAEL. AND THE VIEW OF FRANKPLEDGE [THE
RIGHT OF ASSEMBLING THE WHOLE MALE POPULATION OVER 12 YEARS
EXCEPT CLERGY, EARLS, BARONS, KNIGHTS, AND THE INFIRM, AT THE
LEET OR SOKE COURT FOR THE CAPITAL FRANKPLEDGES TO GIVE ACCOUNT
OF THE PEACE KEPT BY INDIVIDUALS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE TITHINGS]
SHALL BE LIKEWISE AT THE FEAST OF SAINT MICHAEL WITHOUT OCCASION,
SO THAT EVERY MAN MAY HAVE HIS LIBERTIES WHICH HE HAD, OR USED TO
HAVE, IN THE TIME OF KING HENRY [II] OUR GRANDFATHER, OR WHICH HE
HAS SINCE PURCHASED. THE VIEW OF FRANKPLEDGE SHALL BE SO DONE,
THAT OUR PEACE MAY BE KEPT; AND THAT THE TYTHING BE WHOLLY KEPT
AS IT HAS BEEN ACCUSTOMED; AND THAT THE SHERIFF SEEK NO
OCCASIONS, AND THAT HE BE CONTENT WITH SO MUCH AS THE SHERIFF WAS
WONT TO HAVE FOR HIS VIEW-MAKING IN THE TIME OF KING HENRY OUR
GRANDFATHER.

[XXXVI. NO LAND SHALL BE GIVEN IN MORTMAIN]

IT SHALL NOT BE LAWFUL FROM HENCEFORTH TO ANY TO GIVE HIS LAND TO
ANY RELIGIOUS HOUSE, AND TO TAKE THE SAME LAND AGAIN TO HOLD OF
THE SAME HOUSE. NOR SHALL IT BE LAWFUL TO ANY HOUSE OF RELIGION
TO TAKE THE LANDS OF ANY, AND TO LEASE THE SAME TO HIM OF WHOM HE
RECEIVED IT. IF ANY FROM HENCEFORTH GIVE HIS LANDS TO ANY
RELIGIOUS HOUSE, AND THEREUPON BE CONVICTED, THE GIFT SHALL BE
UTTERLY VOID, AND THE LAND SHALL ACCRUE TO THE LORD OF THE FEE.

{All fines unjustly and unlawfully given to us, and all
amercements levied unjustly and against the law of the land,
shall be entirely remitted or the matter decided by judgment of
the twenty-five barons mentioned below in the clause for securing
the peace, or the majority of them, together with the aforesaid
Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, if he himself can be present,
and any others whom he may wish to bring with him for the
purpose; if he cannot be present, the business shall nevertheless
proceed without him. If any one or more of the said twenty-five
barons has an interest in a suit of this kind, he or they shall
step down for this particular judgment, and be replaced by
another or others, elected and sworn by the rest of the said
barons, for this occasion
only.}

{If we have disseised or deprived the Welsh of lands, liberties,
or other things, without legal judgment of their peers, in
England or Wales, they shall immediately be restored to them, and
if a disagreement arises thereon, the question shall be
determined in the Marches by judgment of their peers according to
the law of England as to English tenements, the law of Wales as
to Welsh tenements, the law of the Marches as to tenements in the
Marches. The same shall the Welsh do to us and ours.}

{But with regard to all those things of which any Welshman was
disseised or deprived, without legal judgment of his peers, by
King Henry [II] our Father or our Brother King Richard, and which
we hold in our hands or others hold under our warranty, we shall
have respite during the term commonly allowed to the Crusaders,
except as to those matters whereon a suit had arisen or an
inquisition had been taken by our command prior to our taking the
cross. Immediately after our return from our pilgrimage, or if by
chance we do not undertake it, we will do full justice according
to the laws of the Welsh and the aforesaid regions.}

{We will immediately return the son of Llywelyn, all the Welsh
hostages, and the charters which were delivered to us as security
for the peace.}

{With regard to the return of the sisters and hostages of
Alexander, King of the Scots, and of his liberties and rights, we
will do the same as we would with regard to our other barons of
England, unless it appears by the charters which we hold of
William his father, late King of the Scots, that it ought to be
otherwise; this shall be determined by judgment of his peers in
our court.}

[XXXVII. SUBSIDY IN RESPECT OF THIS CHARTER, AND THE CHARTER OF
THE FOREST, GRANTED TO THE KING.]

ESCUAGE [SHIELD MILITARY SERVICE] FROM HENCEFORTH SHALL BE TAKEN
AS IT WAS WONT TO BE IN THE TIME OF KING HENRY [II] OUR
GRANDFATHER; RESERVING TO ALL ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, ABBOTS,
PRIORS, TEMPLERS, HOSPITALLERS, EARLS, BARONS, AND ALL PERSONS AS
WELL SPIRITUAL AS TEMPORAL; ALL THEIR FREE LIBERTIES AND FREE
CUSTOMS, WHICH THEY HAVE HAD IN TIME PASSED. AND ALL THESE
CUSTOMS AND LIBERTIES AFORESAID, WHICH WE HAVE GRANTED TO BE HELD
WITHIN THIS OUR REALM, AS MUCH AS PERTAINS TO US AND OUR HEIRS,
WE SHALL OBSERVE.

{All the customs and liberties aforesaid, which we have granted
to be enjoyed, as far as it pertains to us towards our people
throughout our realm, let all our subjects, whether clerics or
laymen, observe, as far as it pertains toward their dependents.}

AND ALL MEN OF THIS OUR REALM, AS WELL SPIRITUAL AS TEMPORAL (AS
MUCH AS IN THEM IS) SHALL OBSERVE THE SAME AGAINST ALL PERSONS IN
LIKE WISE. AND FOR THIS OUR GIFT AND GRANT OF THESE LIBERTIES,
AND OF OTHER CONSTRAINED IN OUR CHARTER OF LIBERTIES OF OUR
FOREST, THE ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, ABBOTS, PRIORS, EARLS, BARONS,
KNIGHTS, FREEHOLDERS, AND OUR OTHER SUBJECTS, HAVE GIVEN UNTO US
THE FIFTEENTH PART OF ALL THEIR MOVEABLES. AND WE HAVE GRANTED
UNTO THEM ON THE OTHER PART, THAT NEITHER WE, NOR OUR HEIRS,
SHALL PROCURE OR DO ANY THING WHEREBY THE LIBERTIES IN THIS
CHARTER CONTAINED SHALL BE INFRINGED OR BROKEN. AND IF ANY THING
BE PROCURED BY ANY PERSON CONTRARY TO THE PREMISES, IT SHALL BE
HAD OF NO FORCE NOR EFFECT.

{Whereas we, for the honor of God and the reform of our realm,
and in order the better to allay the discord arisen between us
and our barons, have granted all these things aforesaid. We,
willing that they be forever enjoyed wholly and in lasting
strength, do give and grant to our subjects the following
security, to wit, that the barons shall elect any twenty-five
barons of the realm they wish, who shall, with their utmost
power, keep, hold, and cause to be kept the peace and liberties
which we have granted unto them and by this our present Charter
have confirmed, so that if we, our Justiciary, bailiffs, or any
of our ministers offends in any respect against any man, or
transgresses any of these articles of peace or security, and the
offense is brought before four of the said twenty-five barons,
those four barons shall come before us, or our Chief Justiciary
if we are out of the realm, declaring the offense, and shall
demand speedy amends for the same. If we or, in case of our being
out of the realm, our Chief Justiciary fails to afford redress
within forty days from the time the case was brought before us
or, in the event of our having been out of the realm, our Chief
Justiciary, the aforesaid four barons shall refer the matter to
the rest of the twenty-five barons, who, together with the
commonalty of the whole country, shall distrain and distress us
to the utmost of their power, to wit, by capture of our castles,
lands, and possessions and by all other possible means, until
compensation is made according to their decision, saving our
person and that of our Queen and children; as soon as redress has
been had, they shall return to their former allegiance. Anyone in
the realm may take oath that, for the accomplishment of all the
aforesaid matters, he will obey the orders of the said
twenty-five barons and distress us to the utmost of his power;
and we give public and free leave to everyone wishing to take
oath to do so, and to none will we deny the same. Moreover, all
such of our subjects who do not of their own free will and accord
agree to swear to the said twenty-five barons, to distrain and
distress us together with them, we will compel to do so by our
command in the aforesaid manner. If any one of the twenty-five
barons dies or leaves the country or is in any way hindered from
executing the said office, the rest of the said twenty-five
barons shall choose another in his stead, at their discretion,
who shall be sworn in like manner as the others. In all cases
which are referred to the said twenty-five barons to execute, and
in which a difference arises among them, supposing them all to be
present, or in which not all who have been summoned are willing
or able to appear, the verdict of the majority shall be
considered as firm and binding as if the whole number had been of
one mind. The aforesaid twenty-five shall swear to keep
faithfully all the aforesaid articles and, to the best of their
power, to cause them to be kept by others. We will not procure,
either by ourself or any other, anything from any man whereby any
of these concessions or liberties may be revoked or abated. If
any such procurement is made, let it be null and void; it shall
never be made use of either by us or by any other.}

{We have also fully forgiven and pardoned all ill-will, wrath,
and malice which has arisen between us and our subjects, both
clergy and laymen, during the disputes, to and with all men.
Moreover, we have fully forgiven and, as far as it pertains to
us, wholly pardoned to and with all, clergy and laymen, all
offences made in consequence of the said disputes from Easter in
the sixteenth year of our reign until the restoration of peace.
Over and above this, we have caused letters patent to be made for
Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, Archbishop of Dublin,
the above-mentioned Bishops, and Master Pandulph, for the
aforesaid security and concessions.}

{Wherefore we will that, and firmly command that, the English
Church shall be free and all men in our realm shall have and hold
all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and
peaceably, freely, quietly, fully, and wholly, to them and their
heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places forever, as
is aforesaid. It is moreover sworn, as will on our part as on the
part of the barons, that all these matters aforesaid shall be
kept in good faith and without deceit. Witness the above-named
and many others. Given by our hand in the meadow which is called
Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of
June in the seventeenth year of our reign.}

THESE BEING WITNESSES:
LORD S. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, E. BISHOP OF LONDON, F.
BISHOP OF BATHE, G. OF WINCESTER, H. OF LINCOLN, R. OF
SALISBURY, W. OF ROCHESTER, X. OF WORCESTER, F. OF ELY, H. OF
HEREFORD, R. OF CHICHESTER, W. OF EXETER, BISHOPS; THE ABBOT OF
ST. EDMONDS, THE ABBOT OF ST. ALBANS, THE ABBOT OF BELLO, THE
ABBOT OF ST. AUGUSTINES IN CANTERBURY, THE ABBOT OF EVESHAM, THE
ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER, THE ABBOT OF BOURGH ST. PETER, THE ABBOT OF
REDING, THE ABBOT OF ABINDON, THE ABBOT OF MALMBURY, THE ABBOT OF
WINCHCOMB, THE ABBOT OF HYDE, THE ABBOT OF CERTESEY, THE ABBOT OF
SHERBURN, THE ABBOT OF CERNE, THE ABBOT OF ABBOREBIR, THE ABBOT
OF MIDDLETON, THE ABBOT OF SELEBY, THE ABBOT OF CIRENCESTER, H.
DE BURGH JUSTICE, H. EARL OF CHESTER AND LINCOLN, W. EARL OF
SALISBURY, W. EARL OF WARREN, G. DE CLARE EARL OF GLOUCESTER AND
HEREFORD, W. DE FERRARS EARL OF DERBY, W. DE MANDEVILLE EARL OF
ESSEX, H. DE BYGOD EARL OF NORFOLK, W. EARL OF ALBEMARLE, H.
EARL OF HEREFORD, F. CONSTABLE OF CHESTER, G. DE TOS, H.
FITZWALTER, R. DE BYPONTE, W. DE BRUER,
R. DE MONTEFICHET, P. FITXHERBERT, W. DE AUBENIE, F. GRESLY, F.
DE BREUS, F. DE MONEMUE, F. FITZALLEN, H. DE MORTIMER, W. DE
BEUCHAMP, W. DE ST. JOHN, P. DE MAULI, BRIAN DE LISLE, THOMAS DE
MULTON, R. DE ARGENTEYN, G. DE NEVIL, W. DE MAUDUIT, F. DE BALUN,
AND OTHERS.
GIVEN AT WESTMINSTER THE 11TH DAY OF FEBRUARY THE 9TH YEAR OF OUR
REIGN.

WE, RATIFYING AND APPROVING THESE GIFTS AND GRANTS AFORESAID,
CONFIRM AND MAKE STRONG ALL THE SAME FOR US AND OUR HEIRS
PERPETUALLY, AND BY THE TENOUR OF THESE PRESENTS, DO RENEW THE
SAME; WILLING AND GRANTING FOR US AND OUR HEIRS, THAT THIS
CHARTER, AND ALL SINGULAR HIS ARTICLES, FOREVER SHALL BE
STEDFASTLY, FIRMLY, AND INVIOLABLY OBSERVED; AND IF ANY ARTICLE
IN THE SAME CHARTER CONTAINED, YET HITHERTO PERADVENTURE HAS NOT
BEEN KEPT, WE WILL, AND BY ROYAL AUTHORITY, COMMAND, FROM
HENCEFORTH FIRMLY THEY BE OBSERVED.

Statutes which were enacted after the Magna Carta follow:

Nuisance is recognized by this statute: "Every freeman, without
danger, shall make in his own wood, or in his land, or in his
water, which he has within our Forest, mills, springs, pools,
clay pits, dikes, or arable ground, so that it does not annoy any
of his neighbors."

Anyone taking a widow's dower after her husband's death must not
only return the dower, but pay damages in the amount of the value
of the dower from the time of death of the husband until her
recovery of seisin.

Widows may bequeath the crop of their ground as well of their
dowers as of their other lands and tenements.

Freeholders of tenements on manors shall have sufficient ingress
and egress from their tenements to the common pasture and as much
pasture as suffices for their tenements.

"Grain shall not be taken under the pretense of borrowing or the
promise of after-payment without the permission of the owner."

"A parent or other who forcefully leads away and withholds, or
marries off, an heir who is a minor (under 14), shall yield the
value of the marriage and be imprisoned until he has satisfied
the King for the trespass. If an heir 14 years or older marries
without his Lord's permission to defraud him of the marriage and
the Lord offers him reasonable and convenient marriage, without
disparagement, then the Lord shall hold his land beyond the term
of his age, that, of twenty one years, so long that he may
receive double the value of the marriage as estimated by lawful
men, or after as it has been offered before without fraud or
collusion, and after as it may be proved in the King's Court. Any
Lord who marries off a ward of his who is a minor and cannot
consent to marriage, to a villain or other, such as a burgess,
whereby the ward is disparaged, shall lose the wardship and all
its profits if the ward's friends complain of the Lord. The
wardship and profit shall be converted to the use of the heir,
for the shame done to him, after the disposition and provision of
his friends." (The marriage could be annulled by the church.)

"If an heir of whatever age will not marry at the request of his
Lord, he shall not be compelled thereunto; but when he comes of
age, he shall pay to his Lord the value of the marriage before
receiving his land, whether or not he himself marries."

"Interest shall not run against any minor, from the time of death
of his ancestor until his lawful age; so nevertheless, that the
payment of the principal debt, with the interest that was before
the death of his ancestor shall not remain."

The value of debts to be repaid to the King or to any man shall
be reasonably determined by the debtor's neighbors and not by
strangers. A debtors' plough cattle or sheep cannot be taken to
satisfy a debt.

The wards and escheats of the King shall be surveyed yearly by
three people assigned by the King. The Sheriffs, by their
counsel, shall approve and let to farm such wards and escheats as
they think most profitable for the King. The Sheriffs shall be
answerable for the issues thereof in the Exchequer at designated
times. The collectors of the customs on wool exports shall pay
this money at the two designated times and shall make yearly
accounts of all parcels in ports and all ships.

By statute leap year was standardized throughout the nation, "the
day increasing in the leap year shall be accounted in that year",
"but it shall be taken and reckoned in the same month wherein it
grew and that day and the preceding day shall be counted as one
day."

"An English penny, called a sterling, round and without any
clipping, shall weigh 32 wheat grains dry in the middle of the
ear."

Measurements of distance were standardized to twelve inches to a
foot, three feet to a yard, and so forth up to an acre of land.

Goods which could only be sold by the standard weights and
measures (such as ounces, pounds, gallons, bushels) included
sacks of wool, leather, skins, ropes, glass, iron, lead, canvas,
linen cloth, tallow, spices, confections cheese, herrings, sugar,
pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, wheat, barley, oats, bread, and ale.
The prices required for bread and ale were based on the market
price for the wheat, barley, and oats from which they were made.

The punishment for repeated violations of required measures,
weights, or prices of bread and ale by a baker or brewer; selling
of spoiled or unwholesome wine, meat, fish by brewers, butchers,
or cooks; or a steward or bailiff receiving a bribe was reduced
to placement in a pillory with a shaven head so that these men
would still be fit for military service and not overcrowd the
jails.

Forest penalties were changed so that "No man shall lose either
life or member [limb] for killing of our deer. But if any man be
taken and convicted for taking our venison, he shall make a
grievous fine, if he has anything. And if he has nothing to lose,
he shall be imprisoned for a year aand a day. And after that,
ifhe can find sufficient sureties, he shall be delivered, and, if
not, he shall abjure the realm of England."

The Forest Charter provided that: Every freeman may allow his
pigs to eat in his own wood in the King's forest. He may also
drive his pigs there through the King's forest and tarry one
night within the forest without losing any of his pigs. But
people having greyhounds must keep them out of the forest so they
don't maim the deer.

The Forest Charter also allowed magnates traveling through the
King's forest on the King's command to come to him, to kill one
or two deer as long as it was in view of the forester if he was
present, or while having a horn blown, so it did not seem to be
theft.

After a period of civil war, the following statutes were enacted:

"All persons, as well of high as of low estate, shall receive
justice in the King's Court; and none shall take any such revenge
or distress by his own authority, without award of our court,
although he is damaged or injured, whereby he would have amends
of his neighbor either higher or lower." The penalty is a fine
according to the trespass.

A fraudulent conveyance to a minor or lease for a terms of years
made to defraud a Lord of a wardship shall be void. A Lord who
maliciously and wrongfully alleges this to a court shall pay
damages and costs.

If a Lord will not render unto an heir his land when he comes of
age or takes possession away from an heir of age or removes
anything from the land, he shall pay damages.

Kinsmen of a minor heir who have custody of his land held in
socage shall make no waste, sale, nor destruction of the
inheritance and shall answer to the heir when he comes of age for
the issues of the land, exccept for the reasonable costs of these
guardians.

No lord may distrain any of his tenants. No one may drive animals
taken by distraint out of the shire where they have been taken.

"Farmers during their terms, shall not make waste, sale, nor
exile of house, woods, and men, nor of any thing else belonging
to the tenements which they have to farm".

Henry de Bracton, a royal judge and the last great eccesiastical
lawyer, wrote an unfinished treatise: A Tract on the Laws and
Customs of England, systematizing and organizing the law of the
court rolls with definitions and general concepts and describing
court practice and procedure. It was influenced by his knowledge
of Roman legal concepts, such as res judicata, and by his own
opinions, such as that the law should go from precedent to
precedent. He also argued that the will and intent to injure was
the essence of murder, so that neither an infant nor a madman
should be held liable for such and that degrees of punishment
should vary with the level of moral guilt in a killing. He
thought the deodand to be unreasonable.

Bracton defines the requirements of a valid and effective gift
as:
"It must be complete and absolute, free and uncoerced, extorted
neither by fear nor through force. Let money or service play no
part, lest it fall into the category of purchase and sale, for if
money is involved there will them be a sale, and if service, the
remuneration for it. If a gift is to be valid the donor must be
of full age, for if a minor makes a gift it will be ineffective
since (if he so wishes) it shall be returned to him in its
entirety when he reaches full age. Also let the donor hold in his
own name and not another's, otherwise his gift may be revoked.
And let him, at the least, be of sound mind and good memory,
though an invalid, ill and on his death bed, for a gift make
under such conditions will be good if all the other
[requirements] of a valid gift are met. For no one, provided he
is of good memory, ought to be kept from the administration or
disposition of his own property when affected by infirmity, since
it is only then that he must make provision for his family, his
household and relations, given stipends and settle his bequests;
otherwise such persons might suffer damage without fault. But
since charters are sometimes fraudulently drawn and gifts falsely
taken to be made when they are not, recourse must therefore be
had to the country and the neighborhood so that the truth may be
declared."

In Bracton's view, a villein could buy his own freedom and the
child of a mixed marriage was free unless he was born in the
tenement of his villein parent.

- Judicial Procedure -

The Royal Court split up into several courts with different
specialties and became more like departments of state than
offices of the King's household. The judges were career civil
servants knowledgeable in the civil and canon law. The Court of
Common Pleas heard civil cases brought by one subject against
another. Pursuant to the Magna Carta, it sat only at one place,
Westminster Hall in London. Its records were the de banco rolls.
The Court of the Exchequer with its subsidiary department of the
Treasury was in almost permanent session at Westminster,
collecting the Crown's revenue and enforcing the Crown's rights.
The Court of the King's Bench (a marble slab in Westminster upon
which the throne was placed) traveled with the King and heard
criminal cases and pleas of the Crown. Its records were the coram
rege rolls. The title of the Chief Justiciar of England changed
to the Chief Justice of England.

Appeals from these courts could be made to the King and his
council.

Crown pleas included issues of the King's property, fines due to
him, murder (a body found with no witnesses to a killing),
homicide (a killing for which there were witnesses), rape,
wounding, mayhem, consorting, larceny, robbery, burglary, arson,
poaching, unjust imprisonment, selling cloth by non-standard
widths, selling wine by non-standard weights.

Royal judges called justices in eyre traveled to the shires every
seven years. There, they gave interrogatories to local assizes of
twelve men to determine what had happened there since the last
eyre. Every crime, every invasion of royal rights, and every
neglect of police duties was to be presented and tried. The
assize ultimately evolved into the jury of verdict, which
replaced ordeal, compurgation, and battle as the method of
finding the truth. Suspects were failed until their cases could
be heard and jail breaks were common.

Royal coroners held inquests on all sudden deaths to determine
whether they were accidental or not. If not, royal justices held
trial. They also had duties in treasure troves and shipwreck
cases.

The hundred court decided cases of theft, viewing of boundaries
of land, claims for tenurial services, claims for homage, relief,
and for wardship; enfeoffments made, battery and brawls not
amounting to felony, wounding and maiming of beasts, collection
of debts, trespass, detinue and covenant, defamation, and
enquiries and presentments arising from the assizes of bread and
ale and measures.

Still in existence is the old self-help law of hamsocne, the
thief hand-habbende, the thief back-berend, the old summary
procedure where the thief is caught in the act, AEthelstan's
laws, Edward the Confessor's laws, and Kent's childwyte [fine for
begetting a bastard on a lord's female bond slave]. Under the
name of "actio furti" [appeal of larceny] is the old process by
which a thief can be pursued and goods vindicated. As before and
for centuries later, the deodand [any personal chattel which was
the immediate cause of death] was forfeited "to God". These
chattel were usually carts, cart teams, horses, boats, and
mill-wheels.

Five cases with short summaries are:

CASE: "John Croc was drowned from his horse and cart in the water
of Bickney. Judgment: misadventur. The price of the horse and
cart is 4s.6d. 4s.6d. deodand."

CASE: "Willam Ruffus was crushed to death by a certain trunk. The
price of the trunk is 4d., for which the sheriff is to answer.
4d. deodand."

CASE: "William le Hauck killed Edric le Poter and fled, so he is
to be exacted and outlawed. He was in the tithing of Reynold
Horloc in Clandon of the abbot of Chertsey (West Clandon), so it
is in mercy. His chattels were 4 s., for which the bailiff of the
abbot of Chertsey is to answer."

CASE: "Richard de Bregsells, accused of larceny, comes and denies
the whole and puts himself on the country for good or ill. The
twelve jurors and four vills say that he is not guilty, so he is
quit."

CASE: William le Wimpler and William Vintner sold wine contrary
to the statute, so they are in mercy.

Other cases dealt with issues of entry, i.e. whether land was
conveyed or just rented; issues of whether a man was free, for
which his lineage was examined; issues of to which lord a villein
belonged; issues of nuisance such as making or destroying a bank,
ditch, or hedge; diverting a watercourse or damming it to make a
pool; obstructing a road, and issues of what grazing rights were
conveyed in pasture land, waste, woods, or arable fields between
harvest and sowing. Grazing right disputes usually arose from the
ambiguous language in the grant of land "with appurtances".

Courts awarded specific relief as well as money damages. If a
landlord broke his covenant to lease land for a term of years,
the court restored possession to the lessee. If a lord did not
perform the services due to his superior lord, the court ordered
him to perform the services. The courts also ordered repair by a
lessee.

Debts of country knights and freeholders were heard in the local
courts; debts of merchants and burgesses were heard in the courts
of the fairs and boroughs; debts due under wills and testaments
were heard in the ecclesiastical courts. The ecclesiastical
courts deemed marriage to legitimize bastard children whose
parents married, so they inherited chattels and money of their
parents. Proof was by compurgation, the ordeal having been
abolished by the Church.

Trial by battle is still available, although it is extremely rare
for the duel to actually take place.

The manor court imposed penalties on those who did not perform
their services to the manor and the lord wrote down the customs
of the manor for future use in other courts.

By statute, no fines could be taken of any man for fair pleading
in the Circuit of Justiciars, shire, hundred, or manor courts.

Various statutes relaxed the requirements for attendance at court
of those who were not involved in a case as long as there were
enough to make the inquests fully. And "every freeman who owes
suit to the county, tything, hundred, and wapentake, or to the
Court of his Lord, may freely make his attorney attend for him."

In Chancery, the court of the Chancellor, if there is a case with
no remedy specified in the law, that is similar to a situation
for which there is a writ, then a new writ may be made for that
case. (By this will later be expanded the action of trespass,
which even later has offshoots of misdemeanor and the tort of
trespass.)

Chapter 8

- The Times: 1272-1348 -

King Edward I was respected by the people for his good
government, practical wisdom, and genuine concern for justice for
everyone. He loved his people and wanted them to love him. He
came to the throne with twenty years experience governing lesser
lands on the continent which were given to him by his father
Henry III. He gained a reputation as a lawgiver and as a
peacemaker in disputes on the continent. He had close and solid
family relationships, especially with his father and with his
wife Eleanor, to whom he was faithful. He was loyal to his close
circle of good friends. He valued honor and adhered reasonably
well to the terms of the treaties he made. He was generous in
carrying out the royal custom of subsidizing the feeding of
paupers. He visited the sick. He dressed in plain, ordinary
clothes rather than extravagant or ostentatious ones. He disliked
ceremony and display.

At his accession, there was a firm foundation of a national law
administered by a centralized judicial system, a centralized
executive, and an organized system of local government in close
touch with both the judicial and the executive system. To gain
knowledge of his nation, he sent royal commissioners into every
shire to ask about any encroachments on the King's rights and
about misdeeds by any of the King's officials: sheriffs,
bailiffs, or coroners. The results were compiled as the "Hundred
Rolls". They were the basis of reforms which improved justice at
the local as well as the national level. They also rationalized
the array of jurisdictions that had grown up with feudal
government. Statutes were passed by a Parliament of two houses,
that of lords and that of an elected [rather than appointed]
commons, and the final form of the constitution was fixed.

Wardships of children and widows were sought because they were
very profitable. A guardian could get one tenth of the income of
the property during the wardship and a substantial marriage
amount when the ward married.

Most earldoms and many baronages came into the royal house by
escheat or marriage. The royal house employed many people. The
barons developed a class consciousness of aristocracy and became
leaders of society. Many men, no matter of whom they held land,
sought knighthood. The King granted knighthood by placing his
sword on the head of able-bodied and moral candidates who swore
an oath of loyalty to the King and to defend "all ladies,
gentlewomen, widows and orphans" and to "shun no adventure of
your person in any war wherein you should happen to be". A code
of knightly chivalry became recognized, such as telling the truth
and setting wrongs right. About half of the knights were
literate. In 1278, the King issued a writ ordering all
free-holders who held land of the value of 400s. to receive
knighthood at the King's hands.

At the royal house and other great houses gentlemanly jousting
competitions, with well-refined and specific rules, took the
place of violent tournaments with general rules. At these knights
competed for the affection of ladies by jousting with each
otherwhile while the ladies watched. Courtly romances were
common. If a man convinced a lady to marry him, the marriage
ceremony took place in church, with feasting and dancing
afterwards. Romantic stories were at the height of their
popularity. A usual theme was the lonely quest of a knight
engaged in adventures which would impress his lady.

The dress of the higher classes was very changeable and subject
to fashion as well as function. Ladies no longer braided their
hair in long tails, but rolled it up in a net under a veil, often
topped with an elaborate and fanciful headdress. They wore
non-functional long trains on their dresses and dainty shoes. Men
wore a long gown, sometimes clasped around the waist. Overcloaks
were often lined or trimmed with native fur such as squirrel.
People often wore solid red, blue, or green clothes. Only monks
and friars wore brown. The introduction of buttons and
buttonholes to replace pins and laces made clothing warmer. The
spinning wheel came into existence.

While the great barons lived in houses built within the walls of
their castles, most barons and knights lived in unfortified or
semi-fortified houses with two rooms. There were ornaments for
the tables and more wall hangings.

Wardships of children and widows were sought because they were
very profitable. A guardian could get one tenth of the income of
the property during the wardship and a substantial marriage
amount when the ward married.

Queen Eleanor, a cultivated, intelligent, and educated lady from
the continent, fostered culture and rewarded individual literary
efforts, such as translations from Latin, with grants of her own
money. She patronized Oxford and Cambridge Universities and left
bequests to poor scholars there. She herself had read Aristotle
and commentaries thereon, and she especially patronized
literature which would give cross-cultural perspectives on
subjects. She was kind and thoughtful towards those about her and
was also sympathetic to the afflicted and generous to the poor.
She shared Edward's career to a remarkable extent, even
accompanying him on a crusade. She had an intimate knowledge of
the people in Edward's official circle and relied on the advice
of two of them in managing her lands. She mediated disputes
between earls and other nobility, as well as softened her
husband's temper towards people. Edward granted her many
wardships and marriages and she arranged marriages with political
advantages. She dealt with envoys coming to the court. Her
intellectual vitality and organized mentality allowed her to deal
with arising situations well. Edward held her in great esteem.
She introduced to England the merino sheep, which, when bred with
the English sheep, gave them a better quality of wool. She and
Edward often played games of chess and backgammon.

Farm efficiency was increased by the use of windmills in the
fields to pump water and by allowing villeins their freedom and
hiring them as laborers only when needed. There was enough grain
to store so that the population was no longer periodically
decimated by famine. The population grew and all arable land in
the nation was under the plough. Harvests were usually plentiful,
with the exception of two periods of famine over the country due
to weather conditions. Then the price of wheat went up and drove
up the prices of all other goods correspondingly.

Although manors needed the ploughmen, the carters and drivers,
the herdsmen, and the dairymaid on a full-time basis, other
tenants spent increasing time in crafts and became village
carpenters, smiths, weavers or millers' assistants. Trade and the
towns grew.

Money rents often replaced service due to a lord, such as fish
silver, malt silver, or barley silver. The lord's rights are
being limited to the rights declared on the extents [records
showing service due from each tenant] and the rolls of the manor.
Sometimes land is granted to strangers because none of the
kindred of the deceased will take it. Often a manor court limited
a fee in land to certain issue instead of being inheritable by
all heirs. Surveyors' poles marked boundaries declared by court
in boundary disputes. This resulted in survey maps showing
villages and cow pastures.

The revival of trade and the appearance of a money economy was
undermining the long-established relationship between the lord of
the manor and his villeins. As a result, money payments were
supplementing or replacing payments in service and produce, as in
this manor's holdings, when 3d. would buy food for a day:

"Extent of the manor of Bernehorne, made on Wednesday following
the feast of St. Gregory the pope, in the thirty-fifth year of
the reign of Ding Edward, in the presence of Brother Thomas,
keeper of Marley, John de la More, and Adam de Thruhlegh, clerks,
on the oath of William de Gocecoumbe, Walter le Parker, Richard
le Knyst, Richard the son of the latter, Andrew of Estone,
Stephen Morsprich, Thomas Brembel, William of Swynham, John
Pollard, Roger le Glide, John Syward, and John de Lillingewist,
who say that there are all the following holdings:...
John Pollard holds a half acre in Aldithewisse and owes 18d. at
the four terms,and owes for it relief and heriot.
John Suthinton holds a house and 40 acres of land and owes 3s.
6d. at Easter and Michaelmas.
William of Swynham holds one acre of meadow in the thicket of
Swynham and owes 1d. at the feast of Michaelmas.
Ralph of Leybourne holds a cottage and one acre of land in Pinden
and owes 3s. at Easter and Michaelmas, and attendance at the
court in the manor every three weeks, also relief and heriot.
Richard Knyst of Swynham holds two acres and a half of land and
owes yearly 4s. William of Knelle holds two acres of land in
Aldithewisse and owes yearly 4s. Roger le Glede holds a cottage
and three roods of land and owes 2s. 6d. Easter and Michaelmas.
Alexander Hamound holds a little piece of land near Aldewisse and
owes one goose of the value of 2d. The sum of the whole rent of
the free tenants, with the value of the goose, is 18s. 9d.
They say, moreover, that John of Cayworth holds a house and 30
acres of land, and owes yearly 2s. at Easter and Michaelmas; and
he owes a cock and two hens at Christmas of the value of 4d.
And he ought to harrow for two days at the Lenten sowing with one
man and his own horse and his own harrow, the value of the work
being 4d.; and he is to receive from the lord on each day three
meals, of the value of 5d., and then the lord will be at a loss
of 1d. Thus his harrowing is of no value to the service of the
lord.
And he ought to carry the manure of the lord for two days with
one cart, with his own two oxen, the value of the work being 8d.;
and he is to receive from the lord each day three meals at the
value as above. And thus the service is worth 3d. clear.
And he shall find one man for two days, for mowing the meadow of
the lord, who can mow, by estimation, one acre and a half, the
value of the mowing of an acre being 6d.: the sum is therefore
9d. And he is to receive each day three meals of the value given
above. And thus that mowing is worth 4d. clear. And he ought to
gather and carry that same hay which he has cut, the price of the
work being 3d. And he shall have from the lord two meals for one
man, of the value of 1 1/2 d. Thus the work will be worth 1 1/2
d. clear.
And he ought to carry the hay of the lord for one day with a cart
and three animals of his own, the price of the work being 6d. And
he shall have from the lord three meals of the value of 2 1/2 d.
And thus the work is worth 3 1/2 d. clear.
And he ought to carry in autumn beans or oats for two days with a
cart and three animals of his own, the value of the work being
12d. And he shall receive from the lord each day three meals of
the value given above. And thus the work is worth 7d. clear.
And he ought to carry wood from the woods of the lord as far as
the manor, for two days in summer, with a cart and three animals
of his own, the value of the work being 9d. And he shall receive
from the lord each day three meals of the price given above. And
thus the work is worth 4d. clear.
And he ought to find one man for two days to cut heath, the value

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