Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775Reilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
In 1297, Edward I confirmed the Magna Carta and other items.
Judgments contrary to Magna Carta were nullified. The documents
were to be read in cathedral churches as grants of Edward and all
violators were to be excommunicated. He also agreed not to impose
taxes without the consent of Parliament after baronial pressure
had forced him to retreat from trying to increase, for a war in
France, the customs tax on every exported sack of wool to 40s.
from the 6s. 8d. per sack it had been since 1275. The customs tax
was finally fixed at 10s. for every sack of wool, 2s. for each tun
[casket] of wine, and 6d. for every pound's worth of other goods.
The "tenths and fifteenths" tax levied on income from movables or
chattels became regular every year. Edward also confirmed the
Forest Charter, which called for its earlier boundaries. And he
agreed not to impound any grain or wool or and like against the
will of the owners, as had been done before to collect taxes.
Also, the special prises or requisitions of goods for national
emergency were not to be a precedent. Lastly, he agreed not to
impose penalties on two earls and their supporters for refusing to
serve in the war in France when the king did not go.
>From 1299, statutes were recorded in a Statute Roll as they were
enacted.
By the end of the 1200s, the King's wardrobe, where confidential
matters such as military affairs were discussed in his bedroom,
became a department of state with the King's privy seal. The
keeper of the privy seal was established as a new office by Edward
I in 1318. The wardrobe paid and provisioned the knights, squires,
and sergeants of the king and was composed mostly of civil
servants. It traveled with the King. The Crown's treasure, plate,
tents, hangings, beds, cooking utensils, wine, and legal and
financial rolls were carried on pack horses or in two-wheeled
carts drawn by oxen, donkeys, or dogs. The people in the entourage
rode horses or walked. The other two specialized administrative
bodies were the Exchequer, which received most of the royal
revenue and kept accounts at Westminster, and the Chancery, which
wrote royal writs, charters, and letters, and kept records.
The chief functions of administration in the 1300s were performed
by the council, chancery, wardrobe, chamber [room off wardrobe for
dressing and for storage], and exchequer. Many of the chancellors
had come from the wardrobe and chamber. In time, the chancellor
ceased to be a part of the king's personal retinue and to follow
the court. The chancery became primarily a department of central
administration rather than a secretariat and record-keeping part
of the royal household. The king used a privy seal to issue
directives to the chancery. Edward III made some merchants earls
and appointed them to be his ministers. He did not summon anyone
to his council who did not have the confidence of the magnates
[barons, earls, bishops, and abbots].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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