Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775

mes: 1

n God. Also, it was hard to understand why priests who fled were less likely to die than priests who stayed with the dying to give them the last rites. Legal and judicial, as well as other public business, ceased for two years, interrupted by the plague. Thus begins a long period of disorganization, unrest, and social instability. Customary ways were so upset that authority and tradition were no longer automatically accepted. Fields lay waste and sheep and cattle wandered over the countryside. Local courts could seldom be held. Some monasteries in need of cash sold a

ale, and a gallon of cheap wine or half a pair of shoes. Prices did not go up nearly as much as wages. Villeins relinquish their tenements, and deserted their manors, to get better wages elsewhere. They became nomadic, roaming from place to place, seeking day work fo

allow and learneth to sleep. Since they fetched my fair cattle in my fold; when I think of my old wealth, well nigh I weep. T

return them to servitude. A statute of laborers passed in 1351 for wages to be set at the pre-plague rates was ineffectual. Justices became afraid to ad

o deal with rioting and vagrants. Cooperation by officials of oth

k Death reduced the population from about 5 million to abou

s of intrigue. A high poll tax, graduated from 20s. to 12d., that was to be raised for a war with France, touched off a spontaneous riot all over the nation in 1381. This tax included people n

w enforcement, attorneys, and alien merchants were beheaded. The Chief Justice was murdered while fleeing. The archbishop, who was a notoriously exploitive landlord, the chancellor, and the treasurer were murdered. Severed heads were posted on London Bridge. A mob took control of the king's empty bedchamber in the Tower. The villeins demanded that service t

e poll tax was dropped. For the future, the duty to deal with rioting and vagrants was given to royal justices, sheriffs, mayors, bailiffs, and constables as well as the Justices of the

ng prisoners awaiting trial, carrying out the penalties adjudged by the courts, and collecting Crown revenue through his bailiffs. Royal writs were addressed to the sheriff. Because many sheriffs had taken f

n learn a craft or entering and being educated by the church. The ne

heir demesne land, which transferred the burden of getting laborers from the landlord to the lessee-tenant. The payment was called a "farm" and the tenant a "farmer". First, there were stock-and-land leases, in which both the land and everything required to cultivate it were let together. After 50 years, when the farmers had acquired assets, there were pure land leases.

and which had its own fireplace. The great chamber was usually at the dais end of the great hall. The great hall had been too noisy for conversation and now was little used.

the pith of a rush reed for the wick]. Those who could not afford rush candles could get a dim light by using a little grease in a shallow container, with a few twisted strands of linen thread afloat in it. The peasants ate dark bread and beans and drank water from springs. Milk and cheese were a luxury for them. Those who could not afford bread instead ate oat cakes made of pounded beans and bran, cheese, and cabbage. They also had leeks, onions, and peas as vegetables. Some farmers could afford to have a wooden four-posted bedstead, hens, geese, pigs, a c

st meal of the day was a light breakfast, which broke the fast that had lasted the night. Meals were often prepared according to recipes from cook books which involved several preparation procedures using flour, eggs, sugar, cheese, and grated bread, rather than just simple seasoning. Menus were put together with foods that tasted well together and served on plates in several courses. Sheffield cutlery was world famous. Table manners included not making sounds when eating, not

, like Canterbury and London, came from smaller boroughs. An incoming burgess was required to buy his right to trade either by

1, which compared town-held property to church-held property. The right of London to pass ordinances was confirmed by charter. Some towns had a town clerk, who was chief of full-time sal

the leather tanners were assigned specific localities where their trades would do least harm. The smiths and potters were excluded from the more densely populated areas because they we

r pond above the town by wood or lead pipes or open conduits. Sometimes tree trunks were hollowed out and tapered at the ends to fit into the funnel-shaped end of another. But they leaked a lot. In London, a conduit piped water unde

ilt into the house or as an outhouse. Also, in the better houses, there grew a practice of carting human and animal fecal matter at night to dung heaps outside the city walls. There was one public lat

e Goldsmiths, the Mercers, and the Saddlers became the first guilds to receive, in 1394-5, charters of incorporation, which gave them perpetual existence. As such they could hold land in "mortmain" [dead hand], thus depriving the king of ri

corders (made rope, canvas, and pitch) organized and ultimately were recognized by town authorities as self-governing craft guilds. The building trade guilds such as the tilers, carpenters, masons, and joiners, became important. Masons were still itinerant, going to sites of churches

iner (woodworker who finished interior woodwork such as doors and made furniture), tiler, mason (cut stone for buildings), smith (made metal tools for stonemasons and builders), tallow chandler (made candles and sometimes soap from the fat and grease the housewife supplied), wax chandler (made candles), stirrup maker, spurrier (made spurs), and hosteler (innkeeper). However, the merchant guilds of the gol

easant 13d., a roast heron 18d., roast goose 7d., a hen 4d., a capon 6d., th

at as a guild court to determine discipline for offenses such as false weights or measures or false workmanship or work and decided trade disputes. The brethren in guild fraternity were classified as masters, journeymen, or appren

the Company o

of the city shall m

reedom of the city unless with the

ice away the ser

of 12d., the wardens shall make good the loss; and if the servant refuses t

ll his goods

be taken before the mayor a

hin the city between those who ar

be paid their pre

s to make gloves in their own houses shal

obey these regulations shall be br

, especially shoes] of good repute petitioned the city o

it may please you to grant unto them the articles that follow, for the profit of the common people; that so, what is goo

-leather for ox-leather, in deceit of the common people, and to the scandal of the trade, he shall pay to the Chamber of the Guildhall, the first time that he

rights or privileges] of the city and one knowing his trade, and that no one shall be admitted to the freed

e, by reason of the discord or dissension that may have arisen between them; but he shall be ruled by the good folks of his own trade. And if he shall differ from them as acting agai

servant of another from the service of his master by paying

the Conduit; and that at a certain time of the day, that is to say, between prime [the first hour of the day] and noon. And that no shoes shall exceed the measure of seven inches,

in market on Sundays at any place, but only within his own

new shoes among the old in deceit of the common people

r, recorder, and aldermen show the dealers of Smithfield, that is to say, the coursers and drovers, that for the amendment of the said field they have granted and assented among them that for the term of three years next ensuing after the date of this petition for every horse sold in the said field there shall be paid one penny, for every ox and cow one halfpenny, for every eight sheep one penny, and for every swine one penny by th

ng, which was approached by a wooden or stone staircase from the outside. Their goods were displayed on a booth outside the door of the house or hung in the windows. They were stored at night in the cellar. Over the booths swung huge signs, which had to be nine feet above street level to allow a man on horseback to ride underneath. There were no sidewalks. Street repair work for wages was supervised by a stone master. The streets sloped down from the middle so that the filth of the streets would run down the sides of the road. There were many wood chips in the streets due to cutting up of f

s wide. They saw that the taverns were shut when curfew was rung and arrested anyone on the street after curfew who had a weapon, for no one with a sword was allowed on the str

etable vendors near a church obstructing passageway on the street or plumbers melting their

or by imprisonment. Perjury was punished by confession from a high stool for the first offense, and the pillory for the second. Slander and telling lies were punished by the pill

y marry into rural landholders of position. For poor boys with talent, the main r

by statute. The curvilinear gothic style of architecture was replaced by the perpendicular style, which was simpler and cheaper to build. Church steeples now had clocks on them with dia

ren were often crushed by carts, trampled by horses, or mauled by pigs. Towns recognized surgery as a livelihood subject to admission and oath to serve the social good. Master surgeons were admitted to practice in 1369 in London in full husting before the mayor and the aldermen and swore to: faithfully serve the people in undertaking their cures, take reasonably from them, faithfully follow their callin

were allowed to be present at a birth, at which they spread the knowledge of midwifery. As usual, many women died giving birth. Va

ss family lines usually died out. A three-generation famil

n learn to speak Norman. The grammar schools taught in English instead of Norman as of 1362. Bishops began to preach

hem above until the age of twenty years. And if my said two sons be well learned in grammar and adorned with good manners, which shall be known at the end of twenty years, and the elder son wish to practice common law, and if it is known that he would spend his time well in that faculty, I wil

e five marks yearly in the manner described above for his maintenance, over and above the profit of the said one hundred marks to him bequeathed, for the space of seven years; and if he behave himself otherwise, I will that thereupon he be excluded from the said five marks. And in c

es, amber, iron, and mercury. Exported were wool, leather, lead, tin, and alabaster for sculpturing. Merchant adventurers came to manufacture cloth good

that the church had no power to excommunicate. The friars had become mere beggars and the church was still wealthy. He proposed that all goods should be held in common by the righteous and that the church should hold no property but be entirely spiritual. He believed that people should rely on their individual consciences. He thought th

imary form of knowledge came from experience gained through the senses and that God might cause a pers

ople to the shrine of Truth led by a virtuous laborer. Mystics wrote practical advice with transcendental teaching, for instance "Scale of Perfection" attributed to Walter Hilton and "Cloud of Unknowing". Richard Rolle wrote about spiritual matters, probably the "Prick of Conscience". Richard de Bury wrote "Philobiblon" about book lovers. Jean Fr

abbot, prioress, nun, priest, monk, friar, poor parson of the country, summoner (who enforced the jurisdiction and levied the dues of the church courts), pardoner (sold pardons

er kingdoms, the importance of a man himself following the rules he sets for other people's behavior, the spite of a man for a woman who rejected him, the relative lack of enthusiasm of a wife for sex as compared to her husband, a mother giving up her

d by other men, about a man who drank so much wine that he lost his mental and physical powers, about a woman who married for money instead of love, about a man who said something in frustration which he didn't mean, about a person brought up in poverty who endured adversity better than one brought up in wealth, about a wife who was loving and wise, about a good marriage being more valuable than money, about a virgin who committed suicide rather than b

r oppressors, such as "Song of the Husbandman". John Gower wrote moralizing poems on the villein's revolt, the sins of the clergy and attorneys, and the bad rule of

iastics were appointed as Chancellor. The Masters at Oxford got rid of ecclesiastical supervision by a bishop and archde

logic and deduction, the "Topics", or the "Sophistical Refutations", e.g. logical fallacies such as from 'All A are B' to 'All B are A'), and a selection from these Aristotle works on physics: "Of Heaven and Earth", "

gy required ten more years of study. A Doctorate in civil or canon law required eight more years. A man with a degre

ve rise to the Inns of Court. They used the Register of Writs, the

e was some feeling that it was a sacrilege and dishonorable. Urinalysis and pulse beat were used for diagnosis. Epilepsy and apoplexy were understood as spasms inside the head. It was

literature books from the continent gave their collections to the universities, which

he prototype. The curriculum was civil law, canon law, medicine, with astronomical instruments that students made, theology, and the arts. The arts textbooks were still grammar, logic

nd marquess, which were above barons and earls. The dukes and marquesses were identified with a territorial designation such as an English county or county town. Whenever a Parliament was assembled the commons were present. The commons was composed of representatives from 100 boroughs and 37 counties. Each new Parliament required an election of representatives. The members of the commons were generally the most prominent and powerful economic and political figures of the county and were repeatedly reelected. The electors were usually influenced by the sheriff or a powerful lord who suggested suitable men. The wealthy merchants typically represented the boroughs and paid much of the taxes. Under Edward III, the commons took a leading part in the granting of taxes and the presentation

ial malfeasance and dishonesty of two ministers. The chamberlain had extorted enormous sums, had intercepted fines meant for the king's treasury, and had sold a castle to the enemy. The steward had bought debts of the king's. The House of Lords, the High Court of Parliament, found the charges proved and dismissed them permanently from offi

ative function is lawmaking, and the executive is regulation-making that refines and effectuates the laws of Parliament. But the legi

ly with the king inst

and was protected by the sea from invasion.) So misgovernment by a king would be quickly restrained. Society recovered quickly from conflict and civil war because the national wealth consisted chiefly in flocks and herds and in

y was forfeiture of lands, tenements, goods, and chattel. (The staple statute remained basically unchanged for the next 200 years.) The mayor and constables of the staple were elected annually by the native and foreign merchants of the place. The mayor gave validity to contracts for a set fee, by seal of his office. He and the constables had jurisdiction over all persons and things touching the staple, which was regulated by the Law Merchant in all matters of contract, covenant, debt, and felonies aga

h the profits of war, such as the ransoms paid by the families of rich prisoners. The fighting men supplemented their pay by plunder. Featherbeds and blooded horses were favorite spoils of war brought

lord, well and fitly arrayed. And he shall be boarded as well in time of peace as of war. And he shall take for his fees by the year, as well in time of peace as of war, ten marks sterling [133s.] from the issues of the Duchy of Lancaster by the hands of the receiver there who now is or shall be in time to come, at the terms of Easter and Michaelmas by even portions yearly for the whole of his life. And, moreover, our lord has granted to him by the year in time of war five marks sterling [67s.] by the hands of the treasurer of war for the time being. And his

0 ships selected by the English admirals acting for the king at the ports. Men were seized and pressed into service and criminals were pardoned from crimes to become sailors in the fleet, whi

de to decline. But the better policing of t

merchandise in foreign ships if th

nation. Any merchant, privy or stranger, who was robbed of goods on the sea or lost his ship by tempest or other misfortune on the sea banks, his goods coming to sho

up in rivers impeding the pas

power in driving the mills whe

vey map. Nine cow pastures were divided by a boundary marked by a sh

epeal a statute. When Henry Bolingbroke reported to Parliament that another lord had cast doubt on the king's trustworthiness, a duel between them was arranged. But Richard, probably fearing the gain of power of the lord who won, instead exiled the two lords. He took possession of the Lancaster estates to which Henry was heir and forbade this inheritance. This made all propertied men anxious and they united behind Bolingbroke in taking up arms against Richard. Richard was not a warrior king and offered to resign the crown. The "Merciless Parliament" of 1388 swept out Richard's friends. Parliament deposed and imprisoned Richard. It revoked the extensions to the definition of high treason. It elected Bolingbroke, who

e

th of 1348 these st

eldest son and heir, or violating the Queen or the eldest unmarried daughter or the wife of the King's eldest son and heir; making or knowingly using counterfeits of t

servant slaying his master, a wife her husband, or a

, a Justice, Clerk of the Privy Seal, Steward of the King's house whereby debates and discords might arise between these lords or betw

and inciting them to riot shall be arrested by

whom any have suspicion shall be

ith a spear, upon p

except in time of war in defense of the nation. He may carry bow and arrow [for practice]

s by strong hand nor with a mob, upon pain o

l be reissued without fee, after trial by the king and his council. Manumissions, obligations, releases

nd joint feoffments. The husbands, or father or next of kin of such women may sue the r

t rather than for a day at a time. Statutory price controls on food limited profits to reasonable ones according to the distance of the supply. Later, wages were determined in each county by Justices of the Peace according to the dearth of victuals whi

nd when found, shall be burnt in the f

art or other agriculture shall continue

high prices, required merchants to deal in only one type of merchandise. It also required craftsmen to work in only

hall be lowered to 8d. for a young capon, 7d. for an ol

esh waters and from Dover to the con

er it has ended will forfeit to th

ntrary to the assize of cloth shall

leather and no tanner shall make shoes, in o

ur, silk, coverchiefs [an item of woman's apparel], silver wire, and gold wire in retail, but not cloth or wine. They must sell their goods within three months of arrival. Any alien bringing goods to the nation to sell must buy goods of the nation to the value of at least one-half that of his merchandise sol

ll forfeit their franchise to the king and pay double damages

lead to the staple to sell without being compelled to sell them in the country. Special streets or warehouses were appointed with warehouse rent fixed by the mayor and constables with four of the principal inhabitants. Customs duties were regulated and machinery provided for thei

ing's officials for non- standard measurem

xcept at designated ports, on p

all only wear cloth worth no more than 60s., no gold, silver, stone, fur, or the color purple. Esquires with land up to 2,667s. per year may wear 67s. cloth, cloth of silk and silver, miniver [grey squirrel] fur and stones, except stones on the head. Merchants, citizens, burgesses, artificers, and people of handicraft having goods and chattels worth 10,000s. shall wear cloth the same value as that worn by esquires and gentlemen with land or rent within 2,000s. per year. The same merchants and burgesses with goods and chattels worth 13,333s. and esquires and gentlemen with land or rent within 400s. per year may not

r the lord to claim. If there is no claim after four months, the finder may have it only if he is a gentleman. If one steals a hawk

to hunt, nor shall they use nets or cords or other devices to take [deer, hare, rabbits, nor other gentlemen's game], upon pain of one year imp

sewhere, except at festivals, when three are allowed [because great men a

commodities. The penalty for bringing false or counterfeit money into the nation is loss of life and member. An assigned searcher [inspector] for coina

, which shall be placed on his vessel or work

thing to a beggar who

be given to many poor folks, such as lepers, blind, halt, and persons oppressed with old age and divers other maladies, to the destruction of the support of the same - we do command on behalf of our lord the King, whom may God preserve and bless, that all those who go about begging in the said city and who are able to labor and work for the profit of the common people shall quit the said city between now and Monday next ensuing. And if any such shall be found begging

y for militia could be taken and a 1362 statute requiring purchases of goods and means of conveyance for the king and his household to be made only by ag

e] and heyboot [right to take material for the maintenance of hedges and fences, and the making of farmi

s or rivers or other waters, so that maladies and diseases will not be caused by corru

ties, or towns are forbidden. Instead, it esche

n case of an enemy invasion of the nation. Men who chose to go into the king's

d the distribution of captured goods: one-fourth to the vessel owner, one-fourth to the king if the seamen were paid by the king's wages, and the rest divided among the crew and Admiral. Stealing a boat or an anchor holding a boat was punishable by hanging. Stealing an oar or an anc

ney imported shall be gaug

al Pro

restrain, arrest, imprison, try, and duly punish felons, trespassers, and rioters according to the law. They were expected to arrest vagrants who would not work and imprison them until sureties for good behavior was found for

eplacing private suits for m

own defense or by misfortune [accident], and not for sl

mayors shall have power to inquire of all vagabonds and comp

f life, tenant in dower, or by the Law of England, or in Tail after Possibility of Issu

giving his tenements or chattels to his friend

en touching a plea of land, a wri

enforcement of contracts executed or under seal, e.g. rent due on a lease, hire of an archer, contract o

their testators' goods and chattels in li

awful friends appointed. Such administrators shall have the same powers and dut

ond the sea may inherit from their ancestors

t proceeding may appeal to the King's Bench or

King. It was exceptional to find the king sitting on his

ters of the Chancery, are summoned by the House of Lords only as mere assistants. Parliament can change the common law by statute. The right of a peer to be

f assize. No justice may take any gift except from t

aged maintenance by the retinue of lords with fees, robes, and other liveries, such maintainers were to be put out of their lords' service, and could not be retained by another lord. No one was to give livery to an

t from henceforth none shall be taken by petition or suggestion made to the king unless by indictment of good and lawful people of the same neighborhood where such deeds be done, in due manner, or by

l conformity with the requirements of the common law for a remedy, then a new writ may be made for that case by the Chancellor. These were called "actions on the case". Also, Parliament may create new remedies. There were so many cases that were similar to a case with no remedy specified in the common law, that litigants were flowing into the Chancery. The Chancellor gave swift and equitable relief, which was summary. With the backing of the council, the Chancellor made decisions implementing the policy of the Statute of Laborers. Most of these concerned occupational competency, for instance negligent activity of carriers, builders, shepherds, doctors, cl

tenants who sell or alienate their land, such fine

re entitled to trial in the House of Lords. In prac

der". It was often used for political purposes. Most attainders

n eighteen beasts from divers men in the said county. And I acknowledge that I have feloniously killed Roger le Swan in the town of Strete in the hundred of Strete in the rape [a division of a county] of Lewes and that I am a felon of the lord King of England. And because I have committed many ill deeds and thefts in his land, I abjure the land of the Lord Edward King of England, and [I acknowledge] that I ought to hasten to the port of Hastings, which thou hast given me, and that I ought not

ears was entitled to destroy any portion of the buildings or fixtures let to him. He alleged that the defendant had taken down the door post of the tavern and also of the shop, the boarded door of a partition of the tavern, a seat in the tavern, a plastered partition wall, the stone flooring in the chamber, the hearth of the kitchen, and the mantelpiece above it, a partition in the kitchen, two doo

d the person and property of his

keepers who keep a common inn are bound to keep safely by day and by night without reduction or loss men who are passing through the parts where such inns are

ohn Pusele is bound to the same William in 800s. 40 pounds ... and with other muniments [writings defending claims or rights] of the same William, to wit his return of all the writs of the lord King for the counties of Somerset and Dorset, whereof the same William was then sheriff, for the morrow of the Purification of the Blessed Mary the Virgin in the year aforesaid, as well before the same lord the King

e John assigned to the said William a certain chamber being in that inn, fitting for his rank, with a door and a lock affixed to the same door with sufficient nails, so that

ty and the key still in the keeping of the said servant, the wife of the said John called unto her into her hall the said servant who had the key, giving him food and drink with a merry countenance and asking him divers questions and occupying him thus for a long time, until the staple of the lock of the door aforesaid was thrust on one side out of its right place and the door of the chamber was thereby opened and his goods, being in the inn of the said John, were taken and carried off by the said malefactors ... The said J

e on the issue of whether a court crier

iam Knyghtbrugge for assault and imprisonment at Westminster, attacking him with a

am, constables of the said staple, and on that day the Mayor and the constables issued a writ of capias against Edmund and John to answer Mark and be before the Mayor and the constables at the next co

nd is crier under Thomas Thorne, the chief crier, his master. Every servant of the court is under special protection while doing his duty or on his way to do it. On the day in questio

for consideration fr

tenements with all their appurtenances for the life of the said Joan, with remainder after her decease to one Nicholas at More, brother of the said Peter, to hold to him and the heirs of his body begotten, and for default of issue, then to be sold by four worthy people of the said parish, and the money to be received for the same to be given to Holy Church for his soul; whereupon the said Peter died. And after his death two of the said feoffees, Richard and John, by the procurement of one John Solas, released all their estate in the said lands and tenements to the said Thomas Profyt, on the said conditions, out of the great trust that they had in the said Thomas Profyt, who was their confessor, that he would perform the will of the said Peter [at More] in the form aforesaid; and this well and lawfully to do the said Thomas Profyt swore on his Verbum Dei and to perform the said conditions on all points. And since the release was so made, the said Thomas Profyt, through the scheming and f