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cast up by the sea; rape; abduction; forests; the reliefs of barons;
fighting in the king's dwelling or household; breach of the peace in
the king's troop; failure to perform burgbot [a contribution to the
repair of castles or walls of defense, or of a borough]; or brigbot [a
tribute or contribution to the repair of bridges]; or firdfare [a
summoning forth to a military expedition]; receiving and maintaining
an excommunicated person or an outlaw; violation of the king's
protection; flight in a military or naval battle; false judgment; failure
of justice; violation of the king's law." "Some pleas cannot be
compensated for with money; these are: husbreche [housebreaking
or burglary], arson, manifest theft, palpable murder, treachery
towards one's lord, and violation of the peace of the church or the
protection of the king through the commission of homicide."
"Compensation is effected by the payment of one hundred shillings
for the following: grithbreche [breach of the peace], stretbreche,
forestel, violation of the king's protection, hamsocn, and
flymenfyrm." Hamsocn is an attack on a house and occurs if anyone
assaults another in his own house or the house of someone else
with a band of men or pursues him so that he hits the door or the
house with arrows or stones or produces a perceptible blow from
any source. It also is committed if anyone goes with premeditation
to a house where he knows his enemy to be and attacks him there,
whether he does this by day or by night. It also occurs if anyone
pursues a person fleeing into a mill or sheephold. If in a court of
house dissension has arisen and fighting follows as well, and
someone pursues another person fleeing into the other house, it
shall be considered hamsocn if there are two roofs there. The
following place a man in the king's mercy: breach of his peace which
he gives to anyone by his own hand; contempt of his writs and
anything which slanders injuriously his own person or his
commands; causing the death of his servants in a town or fortress or
anywhere else; breach of fealty and treason; contempt of him;
construction of fortifications without permission; the incurring of
outlawry (anyone who suffers this shall fall into the king's hand, and
if he has any bocland [lands held by deed or other written evidence
of title]; manifest theft punishable by death." If any Englishman is
slain without fault on his part, compensation shall be paid to his
relatives according to this wergeld. Wite and manbot shall be paid to
the appropriate lords in accordance with the amount of the wergeld.
Where a wergeld of 200s. is payable, then 30s. must be paid as
manbot, which equals 5 mancuses; where the wergeld is 1200s.,
that is, for a thegn, the manbot is 120s, which amounts to 20
mancuses. "For the oath of a thegn equals the oaths of six villeins; if
he is killed he is fully avenged by the slaying of six villeins and if
compensation is paid for him, his wergeld is the wergeld for six
villeins." Some freemen are 200 men, some 600 men, and others
1200 men. A 200 man has a wergeld of 200s., which equal 4
pounds. A 1200 man is a person of noble rank, that is, a thegn,
whose wergeld is 1200s., which equal 25 pounds. His healsfang is
120s., which today equals 50s. (40 sheep are worth 20s., as is one
horse.) Homicide by a magical potion or witchcraft or sorcery
practiced with images or by any kind of enchantment cannot be
compensated. If the bewitched person does not die, but suffers
some change of the skin or demonstrable physical sickness,
compensation shall be paid as prescribed by the ancient provisions
of wise men, in accordance with the circumstances. "If anyone kills
his lord, then if in his guilt he is seized, he shall in no manner
redeem himself but shall be condemned to scalping or
disemboweling or to human punishment which in the end is so harsh
that while enduring the dreadful agonies of his tortures and the
miseries of his vile manner of death he may appear to have yielded
up his wretched life before in fact he has won an end to his
sufferings, and so that he may declare, if it were possible, that he
had found more mercy in hell than had been shown to him on
earth." "If anyone kills his man without his having merited death, he
shall just the same pay compensation for him to his relatives
according to the amount of his wergeld, because the man was his to
render service, not to be killed." "A person who breaks the king's
peace which he confers on anyone with his own hand shall, if he is
seized, suffer the loss of his limbs." "If anyone has the king's peace
given by the sheriff or other official and a breach of it is committed
against him, then this is a case of grithbreche and compensation of
one hundred shillings shall be paid, if settlement can be effected by
payment of compensation." "On whosoever's land a slaying takes
place, the lord who has his rights of soke and sake shall, if the
slayer, when caught on the spot, is released on providing security or
is detained after being charged, receive the fihtwite." If anyone is
slain in an attack by a band of marauders, the slayer shall pay the
wergeld to the relatives, and manbot to the lord, and all who were
present shall pay hlothbot, that is to say, they shall pay
compensation of 30s. for a 200 man, 60s. for a 600 man, and 120s.
for a 1200 man. In the case of every payment of wergeld for a
slaying, two parts are the responsibility of the paternal kindred, and
one third part is the responsibility of the maternal kin. If the kindred
of a man who slays another abandons him and will not pay
compensation for him, then all the kindred shall be free from the
feud except the wrongdoer alone, if they thereafter provide him with
neither food nor protection. "If a woman commits homicide,
vengeance shall be taken against her or her descendants or her
blood relatives (or she shall pay compensation for it), not against her
husband or his innocent household." Amends shall nonetheless be
made whether these things are done intentionally or unintentionally.
However, the possibility of a friendly settlement or of clemency is to
be treated as the more likely or the more remote depending on the
degree of blame attaching to the person who has been slain, and
according to the circumstances. If a woman is slain, compensation is
to be paid according to her wergeld, which is decided by her
paternal relationship. The manbot shall be determined by the
standing of the lord. "Any person may aid his lord without incurring
a wite if anyone attacks him, and may obey him in all lawful matters
except in the case of breach of feudal loyalty, theft, murder, and
similar offences, the commission of which has in absolutely no way
been permitted, and which are branded as crimes by the laws." In
the same way a lord must in the appropriate circumstances keep his
man with advice as well as support, and may do so in all ways
without penalty. "Anyone who fights in the king's dwelling shall
forfeit his life." "If anyone commits the offence of blodwite [an
amercement for bloodshed], fihtwite [a fine for making a quarrel to
the disturbance of the peace], legerwite [fine for unlawful
cohabitation], or anything of that nature, and he escapes from the
scene without being obliged to provide security for future
appearance in court or without a charge being laid there, the
jurisdiction at law belongs to his own lord." Infiht or insocna is the
offense committed by those who are living in community in a house;
this is compensated for by a payment of the wite to the head of the
household, if he has jurisdiction over accuser and accused. If anyone
leaps to arms and disturbs the peace of a house, but does not strike
anyone, his liability is half the penalty. Compensation for wounds are
as follows: on the head if both bones have been pierced 30s.; on the
head if only the outer bone has been pierced 15s.; a wound under
the hair one inch long 5d., that is, 1s.; a wound in front of the hair
10d, that is 2s.; injury to the throat 12s.; injury on the neck causing
a curvature or stiffness or a lasting disability 100s. plus whatever has
been paid out for medical treatment.; external injury to the hand
20s.; if half the hand flies off 60s.; rib broken but the skin remains
whole 10s.; rib broken and the skin is broken and the bone is drawn
out 15s.; loss of any eye or hand or foot or tongue 66s.6d. and a
third part of a penny; loss of sight but with the eye remaining in the
head 22s.2d.; wound on the shoulder if the person lives 80s.;
shoulder wound so that the fluid from the joints runs out 30s.;
shoulder maimed 20s.; an injury within a shoulder so that a bone is
drawn out 15s.; arm broken above the elbow 15s.; both bones in the
arm broken 30s.; arm cut off below the elbow 80s.; wound in the
belly 30s.; pierced through the belly 20s. for each opening; a thigh
pierced or broken 30s.; shin struck off below the knee 80s.; the shin
broken 30s.; shin pierced below the knee 12s.; broken shinbone
12s.; wound in the genitals so that there is loss of the capacity to
procreate 80s.; loins maimed 60s.; loins pierced through 30s.; loins
punctured 15s.; injury to the great sinews of another's lower leg if
they recover through response to medical treatment 12s.; injury to
the sinews which cauces lameness 30s.; injury to the small sinews
6s.; striking a blow without causing blood to flow 5d. for each blow
up to a total of three blows, no matter how many blows are actually
struck, for a total of 15d.; knocking out first teeth or incisors 8s.;
canines or `cheek' teeth 4s.; molars 15s.; broken cheeks 15s.; a
thumb cut off 30s.; a thumbnail cut off 5s.; an index finger 15s; an
index fingernail 3s.; a middle or `unchaste' finger 121s; a middle
fingernail 2s.; a ring finger or `medical' finger 17s.; a ring fingernail
4s.; an `ear' finger 9s.; an `ear' fingernail 1s., that is 5d.; the big
toe cut off 20s.; the second toe 15s.; the third toe 9s.; the fourth
toe 6s., the fifth toe 5s.; "If anyone suffers a wound, not involving
the cutting off or maiming or breaking of a limb, on an uncovered
and visible place (for example, in front of the hair or below the
sleeve or beneath the knees), the compensation to be paid shall be
double what would be due in the case of a wound inflicted on the
head under the hair or on the limbs beneath the clothes, that is, on
a concealed place." "Anyone who commits a theft, who betrays his
lord, who deserts him in a hostile encounter or military engagement,
who is defeated in trial by battle or who commits a breach of the
feudal bond shall forfeit his land." In the case of stolen property
worth more than 30d., the accused shall choose which of the two he
wishes, either the simple ordeal or an oath of the value of one
pound with oath helpers taken from three hundreds. "If anyone
dares to dig up or despoil, in scandalous and criminal fashion, a
body buried in the ground or in a coffin or a rock or a pyramid or
any structure, he shall be regarded as an outlaw." "If a person
condemned to death wishes to confess, it shall never be refused
him." "If anyone who is a father dies and leaves as son or daughter
to inherit, they shall not maintain an action or submit to a court
judgment before reaching fifteen years of age; but they shall remain
seised, under guardians and trustees in the lawful custody of their
relatives, just as their father was on the day when he was alive and
dead." "If anyone dies without children, his father or mother shall
succeed to the inheritance, or his brother or sister, if neither father
nor mother is living." If he does not possess these relatives, then his
father's or mother's sister, and thereafter relatives up to the fifth
`joint', whoever are the nearest in relationship, shall succeed by the
law of inheritance. While the male line subsists, and the inheritance
descends from that side, a woman shall not succeed. "The first born
son shall have the father's ancestral fee' the latter shall give any
purchases or subsequent acquisitions of his to whomever he
pleases." If a person has bocland which his kinsmen have left him,
he shall not dispose of it outside his kindred. "If a wife survives her
husband she shall have in permanent ownership her dowry and her
maritagium which had been settled on her by written documents or
in the presence of witnesses and her morning-gift and a third part of
all their jointly acquired property in addition to her clothing and her
bed." "If a woman dies without children, her blood relatives shall
divide up her share with her husband." A man may fight against as
person whom he finds with his wedded wife, after the second or
third prohibition, behind closed doors or under the one covering, or
with his daughter whom he begot on his wife, or with his sister who
was legitimately born, or with his mother who was lawfully wedded
to his father. There is pecuniary compensation if a married woman
commits fornication and she is of the rank of ceorl or belongs to the
600s. class or the 1200s. class, and physical mutilation has been
prescribed for those persisting in the offence. "Women who commit
fornication and destroy their embryos, and those who are
accessories with them, so that they abort the foetus from the womb,
are by an ancient ordinance excommunicated from the church until
death." A milder provision has now been introduced: they shall do
penance for ten years. "If anyone kills or while sleeping crushes
another person's child who has been entrusted to him for rearing or
instruction, he shall pay compensation for him just as if he had killed
an adult person." The county meetings shall be attended by the
bishops, earls, sheriffs, deputies, hundredmen, aldermen, stewards,
reeves, barons, vavassors [those who hold of a baron], village
reeves, and the other lords of lands who shall with diligence see to it
that failure to punish evildoers or the viciousness of officials or the
corruption of judges shall not destroy those suffering under their
accustomed afflictions. Every cause shall be determined in the
hundred court or county court or the hallmoot of those who have
soke or in the courts of feudal lords or in the boundary courts of
feudal equals or as it pertains to established places for court
proceedings. "In the case of soke of pleas, some of these profits
belong peculiarly and exclusively to the royal treasury, some are
shared by it with others, some belong to the sheriffs and royal
officials in their farm, and some belong to the lords who have soke
and sake." "The king's judges shall be the barons of the county and
those who hold free lands in the counties, by whom the causes and
of individuals must be dealt with by the presentation in turn of
complaint and defense." Anyone who violates or subverts the written
law shall forfeit his wergeld on the first occasion; on the second
occasion the penalty is twice the wergeld; and anyone who ventures
to do it a third time shall lose whatever he possesses. "Each person
is to be judged by men who are of equal status and from the same
district as himself." "No one of high status shall be condemned by
the judgment of lesser men." "Whoever gives an unjust judgment
shall forfeit one hundred and twenty shillings and shall lose his
judicial authority unless he redeems it from the king." If there are
contrary opinions among the judges in serious pleas, the decision of
the most substantial men and that with which the royal justice has
concurred shall prevail. "Some persons are slaves by birth, others
become slaves subsequently; of the latter, some are enslaved by
purchase, some by way of satisfaction for an offence, some give
themselves in slavery or are given by another person, and some
become slave by falling under any other classifications, all of which
we may wish nevertheless to be included in that one category of
slavery, for which we propound the description `accident' - so that
the position has been expressed in this way: some are slaves by
accident, others by birth." Church law provided that only consent
between a man and woman was necessary for marriage. There
needn't be witnesses, ceremony, nor consummation. Consent could
not be coerced. Penalties in marriage agreements for not going
through with the marriage were deemed invalid. Villeins and slaves
could marry without their lords' or owners' permission. A couple
living together could be deemed married. Persons related by blood
within certain degrees, which changed over time, of consanguinity
were forbidden to marry. This was the only ground for annulment of
a marriage. A legal separation could be given for adultery, cruelty, or
heresy. Annulment, but not separation, could result in remarriage.
Fathers were usually ordered to provide some sustenance and
support for their illegitimate children. The court punished infanticide
and abortion. Counterfeiters of money, arsonists, and robbers of
pilgrims and merchants were to be excommunicated. Church
sanctuary was to be given to fugitives of violent feuds until they
could be given a fair trial.

Judicial Procedure

Courts extant now are the Royal Court, the King's Court of the
Exchequer, county courts, and hundred courts, all of which were
under the control of the King. His appointed justices administered
justice in these courts on regular circuits. Instead of being the
presiding official at the county court, the sheriff now only produced
the proper people and preserved order at the county courts and
presided over the nonroyal pleas and hundred courts. He impaneled
recognitors, made arrests, and enforced the decisions of the royal
courts. Also there are manor courts, borough courts, and
ecclesiastical courts. In the manor courts, the lord's reeve generally
presided. The court consisted of the lord's vassals and declared the
customs and law concerning such offenses as failure to perform
services and trespass on manorial woods, meadow, and pasture.

The King's Royal Court heard issues concerning the Crown and
breaches of the King's peace, which included almost all criminal
matters: murder, robbery, rape, abduction, arson, treason, breach of
fealty, housebreaking, ambush, certain kinds of theft, premeditated
assault, and harboring outlaws or excommunicants. Henry personally
presided over hearings of important legal cases. He punished crime
severely. He hanged homicides, exiled traitors, and frequenly used
loss of hand and foot. In comparison, William had no one hanged,
but used emasculation and exoculation frequently. Offenders were
brought to justice not only by the complaint of an individual or local
community action, but by official prosecutors. A prosecutor was now
at trials as well as a justice. Trial is still mostly by compurgation but
trial by combat was relatively common.

These offenses against the king placed merely personal property

and sometimes land at the king's mercy. Thus the Crown increased
the range of offenses subject to its jurisdiction and arrogated to
itself profits from the penalties imposed. The death penalty could be
imposed for murder and replaced the old wergeld. But a murderer
could be given royal pardon from the death penalty so that he could
pay compensation to the relatives.

The Royal Court also heard these offenses against the king:
fighting in his dwelling, contempt of his writs or commands,
encompassing the death or injury of his servants, contempt or
slander of the King, and violation of his protection or his law. It
heard these offenses against royal authority: complaints of default of
justice or unjust judgment, pleas of shipwrecks, coinage, treasure
trove [money buried when danger approached], forest prerogatives,
and control of castle building.

Slander of the king, the government, or high officials was

punishable as treason, felony, misprision of treason, or contempt,
depending on the rank and office of the person slandered and the
degree of guilt.

Henry began the use of writs to intervene in civil matters such as

inquiry by oath and recognition of rights as to land, the obligations
of tenure, the legitimacy of heirs, and the enforcement of local
justice. Writs were requested by people who wanted to come to the
Royal Court. The Royal Court used its superior coercive power to
enforce the legal decisions of the county, hundred, and private
courts. It also reviewed miscarriages of justice and unlawful
procedures in these courts. There was a vigorous interventionism in
the land law subsequent to appeals to the king in landlord-tenant
relations, brought by a lord or by an undertenant. Assizes [those
who sit together] of local people who knew relevant facts were put
together to assist the court. Henry appointed some locally based
justices. Also, he sent justices from the Royal Court out on eyres
[journeys] to hold assizes. This was done at special sessions of the
county courts, hundred courts, and manor courts. Records of the
verdicts of the Royal Court were sent with these itinerant justices for
use as precedent in these courts. Thus royal authority was brought
into the localities and served to check baronial power over the
common people. These itinerant justices also transacted the local
business of the Exchequer in each county. Henry created the office
of Chief Justiciar, which carried out judicial and administrative
functions and could travel anywhere in the country and make legal
decisions in the king's name.

The Royal Court retained cases of gaol delivery [arrested person

who had been held in gaol was delivered to the court] and
amercements [discretionary money payments which took the place
of the old wites]. It also decided cases in which the powers of the
popular courts had been exhausted or had failed to do justice. The
Royal Court also decided land disputes between barons who were
too strong to submit to the county courts.

The King's Court of the Exchequer reviewed the accounts of

sheriffs, including receipts and expenditures on the Crown's behalf
as well as sums due to the Treasury, located still at Winchester.
These sums included rent from royal estates, the Danegeld land tax,
the fines from local courts, and aid from baronial estates. Its records
were the "Pipe Rolls", so named because sheets of parchment were
fastened at the top, each of which dropped into a roll at the bottom
and so assumed the shape of a pipe.

The county and hundred courts assessed the personal property of

individuals and their taxes due to the King. The county court decided
land disputes between people who had different barons as their
respective lords.

The free landholders were expected to attend county, hundred,

and manor courts. They owed "suit" to it. The suitors found the
dooms [laws] by which the presiding officer pronounced the
sentence.

The county courts heard cases of theft, brawling, beating, and

wounding, for which the penalties could be exposure in the pillory or
stocks. The pillory held an offender's head and hands in holes in
boards, and the stocks held one's hands and feet. Here the public
could scorn and hit the offender or throw fruit, mud, and dead cats
at him. For sex offenders and informers, stones were usually thrown.
Sometimes a person was stoned to death. Damages in money
replaced the old bots. The county courts met twice yearly. If an
accused failed to appear after four successive county courts, he was
declared outlaw at the fifth and forfeited his civil rights and all his
property. He could be slain by anyone at will.

The hundred court met once a month to hear neighborhood

disputes, for instance concerning pastures, meadows and harvests.
Usually present was a priest, the reeve, four representative men,
and sometimes the lord or his steward in his place. Sometimes the
chief pledges were present to represent all the men in their
respective frankpledges. The bailiff presided over all these sessions
except two, in which the sheriff presided over the full hundred court
to take the view of frankpledge, which was required for those who
did not have a lord to answer for him.

The barons held court on their manors at a "hallmote" for issues

arising between people living on the manor, such as bad ploughing
on the lord's land or letting a cow get loose on the lord's land, and
land disputes. This court also made the decision of whether a certain
person was a villein or freeman. The manor court took over issues
which had once been heard in the vill or hundred court. The baron
charged a fee for hearing a case and received any fines he imposed,
which amounted to significant "profits of justice".

Boroughs held court on trading and marketing issues in their

towns such as measures and weights, as well as issues between
people who lived in the borough. The borough court was presided
over by a reeve who was a burgess as well as a royal official.

Wealthy men could employ professional pleader-

attorneys to advise them and to speak for them in a
court.

The ecclesiastical courts, until the time when Henry VIII took over
the church, dealt with family matters such as marriage, annulments,
marriage portions and settlements of money or goods, legitimacy,
undue wifebeating, child abuse, orphans, bigamy, adultery, incest,
fornication, and separations between husband and wife. There were
no divorces. They also dealt during this time with drunkenness,
personal possessions, defamation, slander which did not cause
material loss (and therefore had no remedy in the temporal courts),
libel, perjury, usury, mortuaries [the second best beast or fees at
death], sacrilege, sorcery, witchcraft, blasphemy [speaking ill of
God], heresy [a belief by a baptized person that is knowingly
contrary to the doctrine of the church], tithe payments, oblations for
performing the Eucharist including expenses for the bread and wine,
church fees such as for the clergy and the poor, simony [buying or
selling ecclesiastical preferment or pardons], pensions, certain
offenses on consecrated ground, and breaches of promises under
oath, e.g. to pay a debt, provide services, or deliver goods.

They decided inheritance and will issues which did not concern
land, but only personal property. This developed from the practice of
a priest usually hearing a dying person's will as to the disposition of
his goods and chattel when he made his last confession. So the
church court came to determine the validity of wills, interpret them,
regulate their created testamentary executors, and determine the
legatees. It also came to determine intestate matters. It provided
guardianship of infants during probate of their personal property.
Trial was first by compurgation, with oath-helpers swearing to or
against the veracity of the alleged offender's oath.

The ecclesiastical court's penalties were intended to reform and

determined on a case-by-case basis. The canon law of Christendom
was followed, without much change by the English church or nation.
A penitent who was sincerely contrite was first expected to confess
his sin to a priest, who gave him God's forgiveness. This removed
the guilt of the sin and eternal punishment in hell. But then justice
required a "satisfaction", which could be met in this world or in the
next. Accordingly, the priest or ecclesiastical court then imposed a
"penance", i.e. some act of a religious nature. Penance could include
confession and public repentance of the sin before the parish,
making apologies and reparation to persons affected, public
embarrassment such as being dunked in water (e.g. for women
scolds), walking a route barefoot and clad only in one's underwear,
whippings, extra work, fasting, vigils, prayers for help to live
righteously, reading, meditation, solitary life, a diet of bread and
water for a specified time, fines, gifts to the church, alms to the
poor, various kinds of good deeds, and imprisonment in a
"penitentiary". For more serious sins, there could be a long fast, a
diet of bread and water for a number of years, or a distant
pilgrimage, for instance to Rome or Jerusalem. For those whose
penance was incomplete at the time of their death, there was a
temporary state of purgatory wherein some sort of suffering fulflled
the remaining debt. Souls in purgatory could be aided by the prayers
of the faithful on earth. The truly penitent could hope for the
remission of all or part of their purgation by obtaining an indulgence
from a higher authority than the priest.
 The ultimate penalty of the church was excommunication, a social
ostracism in which no one could give the person drink, food, or
shelter and he could speak only to his spouse and servants.
Excommunication included denial of the sacraments of baptism,
penance, mass [lord's supper}, and extreme unction [prayers for
spiritual healing] at death; which were necessary for salvation of the
soul; and the sacrament of confirmation. A person could also be
denied a Christian burial in consecrated ground. However, the person
could still marry and make a will. The purpose of excommunication
was to restore the person to spiritual health rather than to punish
him. Excommunication was usually imposed for failure to obey an
order or for showing contempt of the law or of the courts. It
required a hearing and a written reason. The king's court could order
a recalcitrant excommunicant imprisoned until he satisfied the claims
of the church. If this measure failed, it was possible to turn the
offender over to the state for punishment, e.g. for blasphemy or
heresy. Blasphemy was thought to cause God's wrath expressed in
famine, pestilence, and earthquake and was usually punished by a
fine or corporal punishment, e.g. perforation or amputation of the
tongue. It was tacitly understood that the punishment for heresy
was death by burning. There were no heresy cases up to 1400 and
few after that. The state usually assured itself the sentence was just
before imposing it. The court of the rural dean was the ecclesiastical
parallel of the hundred court of secular jurisdiction and usually had
the same land boundaries. The archdeacons, who had been
ministers of the bishop in all parts of his diocese alike, were now
each assigned to one district, which usually had the same
boundaries as the county. Each bishop headed a diocese. Over the
bishops were the two Archbishops of Canterbury and of York.
 The ecclesiastical court had one judge and no jury. Most cases
dealt with offenses against the church, such as working on Sunday,
and sexual mores. The court used teatimony and depositions of
witnesses, oaths of the parties, confessions, physical and written
evidence, presumptions of common knowledge, and inquests of
impartial, sworn men who made unanimous determinations. The
accuser had to meet the burden of proof. The accused could be
required to answer questions under oath, thus giving evidence
against himself. It was not necessary to have an accuser; a judge
could open a case based on public rumor. The judge made a written
decision that did not incude his reasoning. He read the decision
aloud in a public session of the court. If an accused disobeyed a
court order to appear or to do penance, he could be
excommunicated.

Common law held that ecclesiastical courts could not give money
damages. But costs were paid by the loser and included expenses of
producing witnesses, writing of documents, and fees of lawyers. An
appeal could be made from the archdeacon to the bishop to the
metropolitan to the Pope. Henry acknowledged occasional appellate
authority of the pope, but expected his clergy to elect bishops of his
choice.

There was a separate judicial system for the laws of the forest.
There were itinerant justices of the forests and four verderers of
each forest county, who were elected by the votes of the full county
court, twelve knights appointed to keep vert [everything bearing
green leaves] and venison, and foresters of the king and of the lords
who had lands within the limits of the forests. Every three years, the
officers visited the forests in preparation for the courts of the forest
held by the itinerant justices. The inferior courts were the
woodmote, held every forty days, and the swein [freeman or
freeholder within the forest] mote, held three times yearly before the
verderers as justices, in which all who were obliged to attend as
suitors of the county court to serve on juries and inquests were to
be present.

In this lawsuit, King Henry I decided that since the abbots and
monks of Battle had proved before him that certain lands, belonging
to the manor of Alciston, are no possession of theirs, so they are to
be quit of the services due there: " Henry, king of the English, to
Ralph, bishop of Chichester, and all his ministers of Sussex, greeting.
Know that as the abbot of Battle and the monks deraigned [proved]
before me that they do not have those lands which you said they
had, namely, Ovington, Coding ( in Hove), Batsford (in Warbleton),
Daningawurde, Shuyswell ( in Etchingham), Boarzell ( in Ticehurst),
Winenham, Wertesce, Brembreshoc and Seuredeswelle, which of old
belonged to Alciston and contain seven hides of land of the fifty
hides in Alciston and its appurtenances, I order that they shall be
free and quit on this account and that none shall molest them any
further, but concerning these lands and these hides they shall be
completely free and quit as concerning lands which they do not have
and of which they are not seised. I also order by royal authority that
their manor called Alciston, which my father gave to the church of
Battle with other lands for his soul, shall be so free and quit of shires
and hundreds and all customs of land-service as my father himself
held it most freely and quietly, and namely concerning the work on
London Bridge and on the castle of Pevensey. This I command upon
my forfeiture. Witness: William de Pont de l'Arche. At Westbourne.

In this lawsuit, King Henry I ordered a bishop and sheriff to put

another bishop in possession of certain churches according to the
verdict of twelve men: " Henry, by God's grace, etc. to H(erbert),
bishop of Norwich, and Robert the sheriff, greeting. I order that you
let Richard, bishop of London, have the churches of Blythburgh and
Stowe with all the customs that belong to them as twelve among the
better men of the hundred will be able to swear and as I ordered in
my other writ. And let this not be left undone because of my voyage
to Normandy, and let him hold them in peace and honour with suit,
soke, toll and team and infangthief and with all other customs, as
ever any of my predecessors most honourably and most quietly held
them. Witness, etc."

In this lawsuit, King Henry I grants that an abbot should continue

to have his mint after his moneyer suffered punishment like all the
others in England: "Henry, king of the English, to Everard bishop of
Norwich, Robert fitz Walter and all his barons and lieges, French and
English, of Suffolk, greeting. I grant that, justice having been done
to his moneyer as was done to the other moneyers of England, the
abbot of St. Edmunds shall have in the vill of St. Edmunds his mint,
moneyer and exchange as he used to have it before. Witnesses:
(John), bishop of Lisieux, (Bernard), bishop of St. David's and Robert
de Sigillo, At Rouen."

In this lawsuit, King Henry I held proven the ownership of certain

wood and land: "Henry, king of the English, to the bishop of Lincoln
and the sheriff and the barons and faithful, French and English, of
Bedfordshire, greeting. Know that Abbot Reginald of Ramsey has
deraigned in my court to the advantage of the church of Ramsey the
wood of Crawley and the land pertaining to it against Simon de
Beauchamp, about which they were in dispute, and the aforesaid
abbot gave to Simon 20 marks of silver and two palfreys [riding
horses] so that Simon granted them to him out of goodwill and gave
up his claim. And I will and firmly order that the aforesaid church of
Ramsey shall hold that wood and the aforesaid land belonging to the
wood well and in peace, honourably and by perpetual right.
Witnesses: bishop Roger of Salisbury and bishop Alexander of
Lincoln, King David of Scotland, Geoffrey the chancellor, Earl Robert
of Leicester, Adam de Port, Hugh Bigod, William d'Aubigny the butler,
Geoffrey de Clinton, William of d'Aubigny Brito."

Chapter 6

The Times: 1154-1215

King Henry II and Queen Eleanor, who was twelve years older,
were both intelligent, educated, energetic, well-traveled, and
experienced in affairs of state. Henry was the first Norman king to
be fully literate and he learned Latin. He had many books and
maintained a school. Eleanor often served as regent during Henry's
reign and the reigns of their two sons: Richard I, the Lion- Hearted,
and John. She herself headed armies. Henry II was a modest,
courteous, and patient man with an astonishing memory and strong
personality. He was indifferent to rank and impatient of pomp to the
point of being careless about his appearance. He usually dressed in
riding clothes and was often unkempt. He was thrifty, but generous
to the poor. He was an outstanding legislator and administrator.

Henry II took the same coronation oath as Edward the Confessor

regarding the church, laws, and justice. Not only did he confirm the
charter of his grandfather Henry I, but he revived and augmented
the laws and institutions of his grandfather and developed them to a
new perfection. Almost all legal and fiscal institutions appear in their
first effective form during his reign. For instance, he institutionalized
the assize for a specific function in judicial proceedings, whereas
before it had been an ad hoc body used for various purposes. The
term "assize" here means the sitting of a court or council. It came to
denote the decisions, enactments, or instructions made at such.

Henry's government practiced a strict economy and he never

exploited the growing wealth of the nation. He abhorred bloodshed
and the sacrifice of men's lives. So he strove diligently to keep the
peace, when possible by gifts of money, but otherwise with armed
force. Robbers were hanged and any man who raped a woman was
castrated. Foreign merchants with precious goods could journey
safely through the land from fair to fair. These fairs were usually held
in the early fall, after harvesting and sheep shearing. Foreign
merchants bought wool cloth and hides. Frankpledge was revived,
now applying to the unfree and villeins. No stranger could stay
overnight (except for one night in a borough), unless sureties were
given for his good behavior. A list of such strangers was to be given
to itinerant justices.

Henry had character and the foresight to build up a centralized

system of government that would survive him. He learned about the
counties' and villages' varying laws and customs. Then, using the
model of Roman law, he gave to English institutions that unity and
system which in their casual patchwork development had been
lacking. Henry's government and courts forged permanent direct
links between the king and his subjects which cut through the feudal
structure of lords and vassals.
 He developed the methods and structure of government so that
there was a great increase in the scope of administrative activity
without a concurrent increase of personal power of the officials who
discharged it. The government was self-regulating, with methods of
accounting and control which meant that no official, however
exalted, could entirely escape the surveillance of his colleagues and
the King. At the same time, administrative and judicial procedures
were perfected so that much which had previously required the
King's personal attention was reduced to routine.

The royal household translated the royal will into action. In the
early 1100s, there had been very little machinery of central
government that was not closely associated with the royal
household. There was a Chief Justiciar for legal matters and a
Treasurer. Royal government was largely built upon what had once
been purely domestic offices. Kings had called upon their chaplains
to pen letters for them. By Henry II's reign, the Chancery was a
highly efficient writing office through which the King's will was
expressed in a flow of writs, and the Chancellor an important and
highly rewarded official, but he was still responsible for organizing
the services in the royal chapel. Similarly, the chamberlains ran the
household's financial departments. They arranged to have money
brought in from a convenient castle treasury, collected money from
sheriffs or the King's debtors, arranged loans with the usurers, and
supervised the spending of it. It was spent for daily domestic needs,
the King's almsgiving, and the mounting of a military campaign. But
they were still responsible for personal attendance upon the king in
his privy chamber, taking care of his valuable furs, jewels, and
documents, and changing his bed linens. There were four other
departments of the household. The steward presided over the hall
and kitchens and was responsible for supplying the household and
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