The “writ of Henry I on local courts” is an administrative command issued around 1108 by Henry I, King of England during the Anglo-Norman period from 1100 till 1135. Henry addresses the writ to two individuals specifically in the country of Worcestershire, Samson and Urse of Abbetot, as well as to the barons of Worcestershire generally. Samson and Urse both held titles of prestige and power in Worcestershire County as the bishop and sheriff respectively at the time. The writ generally concerns the court systems, both royal and local, and more specifically delineates the jurisdictional spheres to be enjoyed by the particular courts concerning land disputes. Technically, the writ alludes to four distinct courts: the King’s Court, the Lord’s Court, and the County (or Shire) Court and the Hundred Court. Moreover, it refers to two types of people within Anglo-Norman society: the barons, or lords, and the vassals, or those who held the lands of, and at the pleasures of, the barons. …show more content…
From a jurisdictional perspective, Henry I dictates to the great men of Worcestershire how pleas concerning the division or occupation of lands would be handled henceforth: feuding lords, as his tenants in chief, were to appear in the King’s Court, feuding vassals were to either appear before the Lord’s Court or the County Court depending on whether they shared a common lord. As a secondary issue, the writ is, to some extent, integrating the local court system as an extension of royal influence through this separation of jurisdiction. While Henry is, in a sense, respecting the baron’s authority over his vassals, the king is, in effect, enrolling the localities to hear specific land disputes, deemed not fit to be heard in seigniorial courts, on his
“The key factor in limiting royal power in the years 1399-1509 was the king’s relationship with parliament.”
According to Loach, Henry between 1540 and 1544 had dispensed £250 000 using the money for military expenses, palace building and "pocket money". This shows that Henry was very extravagant in his spending of money and to some extent left Somerset with an impossible legacy. Diplomatically Henry left Somerset with an impossible legacy because at this time Scotland was a threat to England due to the support they had from France. Another reason why Scotland was a key area for Somerset was because of the Treaty of Greenwich 1543 and a specific clause in it.
Henry V is not a simple one as it has many aspects. By looking into
Where does the heart of the legal problem lie in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century? The legal system of the time was built on English Common Law. This Common Law used earlier legal precedents combined with the facts of a case in order to determine guilt or innocence. However, this system left a great amount of room for interpretation that lawyers of the time were able to use to their advantage. By the early nineteenth century, lawyers ...
The statement made above is true to a certain extent. The legal system in the United Kingdom is mainly based on The Doctrine of the Separation of Powers, which is written in the 18th century by a French philosopher called Montesquieu. Montesquieu, believed that in order to have a ‘fair’ legal system, the functions should be divided into 3 different bodies of power in a state. This was to prevent absolute power in either one person or a body of people. He believed that by giving one person or a body of people absolute power the state would be in danger of people having the ability to abuse this power and it would eventually lead to a dictatorship. To ensure that this would not happen, he suggested to separate the functions into three different bodies; the executive (government), legislature (parliament) and the Judiciary.
The main issue brought to attention in this essay is concerning the claim that Henry was anti-noble deliberately, to secure his throne; however, this is not the only issue. There are three main others. The initial exploration by this essay is into the financial prospects. Previously, before Henrys' policies, the nobles requested money from the king for amenities such as private armies. Henry's policy decreased the expenditure for these requests.
By the end of the Hundred Years’ War, England was embroiled in civil wars, which became known as the Wars of the Roses. King Henry VI became king as a baby and he was not very warlike; for this reason, he was an unsuitable king for such a violent society. Noblemen were exceedingly powerful and they had their own army to threaten the local people and impose their rules. However, the noble families had different interests and were divided in the ones who supported Henry VI, the so-called ‘Lancastrians...
At this point in time, the Church and State of England fought mainly for power over the judicial system of England. Henry II wanted to enforce common law in his country, a system of justice with a jury that accuses suspects and royal judges that determine the sentence on the criminals. The Church, headed by the archbishop of Canterbury, wanted to keep their traditional system of canon law. The huge flaw in canon law was apparent to all of England, but the church was not willing to back down to the State. In the church's court system, the two greatest concerns were the immunity granted to church officials and the immunity granted to those who sought sanctuary.
In Henry’s reign, the Church had its own courts and any member of the Church could decide to be tried in a Church court rather than a royal court.
Henry implemented many methods in order to control the nobility with varying success. Henry sought to limit the power of the nobles as he was acutely aware the dangers of over mighty subjects with too much power and little love for the crown or just wanted a change like Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick who deposed two kings to replace them. Also Henry’s own rise to the throne was helped by nobles dislike towards Richard III. By restricting the nobles Henry wanted to reduce the power of the nobles and possible threats against him and return the nobles from their quasi king status to leaders in their local areas but under the power of the crown.
Hal’s remark to his father indicates a now strong, independent mind, predicting that Douglas and Hotspur will not accept Henry’s offer because of their love for fighting. Henry’s reply in turn indicates a change in attitude towards his son, a newfound respect. Acknowledging Hal’s prediction, the king orders preparations to begin, and we see he has his own set of solid moral values: knowing that their ‘cause is just’ helps him to reconcile with his highly honourable conscience that there is indeed cause for war. Still maintained is the conflict between the very format of the text, with Hal and Henry’s conversation held in formal verse typical of the court world, in which Hal is now firmly embedded. Falstaff, however, sustains his equally typical prose speech, which indicates to the audience the enduring division between the court and tavern worlds.
-Common Law: the “law of the land”(Pool 127), which was built up over many centuries
Albert C. Baugh places court in the group of “Governmental and Administrative Words” that appeared in the century and a half following 1250, in his book, A History of the English Language. He suggests “We should expect that English would owe many of its words dealing with government and administration to the language of those who for more than two hundred years made public affairs their chief concern” (1978, 168-169). By including court in this category we can make some conclusions regarding its evolution. Though the political institution has always existed, its structure is volatile and subject to change. In fact, one of the primary (and perhaps the most important) engines of historical change has been the constant trans...
The Sources of English Law There are three main sources of English law, legislation and statutes. Law), Common Law (Judge-made Law) and the European Communities law. English Law was historically based on customs and social traditions. Today Custom Law is a part of Common Law, notably in cases where there was no judicial precedent but which were known to exist since time memorial (i.e. since 1189). Many of these laws, such as the Fisherman's Case (1894) 2 East PC 661.
To keep him in bounds the celebrated Provisions of Oxford were framed. They provided that he was to do nothing without the consent of a permanent council of fifteen barons and bishops, and that all his finances were to be controlled by another committee of twenty-four persons. All aliens were to be expelled from the realm, and even the king's household was to be reformed by his self-constituted guardians. - http://everything2.com/title/English+http://everything2.com/title/English+History%253A+The+Provisions+of+Oxford+and+Westminster