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
9) And the Hustings [court] shall sit once a week on
Monday.
10) And I assure to my citizens their lands and the
property mortgaged to them and the debts due to them both
within the City and without.
11) And with regard to lands about which they have pled in
suit before me, I shall maintain justice on their behalf,
according to the law of the City.
12) And if anyone has exacted toll or tax from citizens of
London, the citizens of London within the city shall [have
the right to] seize [by process of law] from the town or
village where the toll or tax was exacted a sum equivalent
to that which the citizen of London gave as toll and hence
sustained as loss.
13) And all those who owe debts to citizens shall pay them
or shall clear themselves in London from the charge of
being in debt to them.
14) But if they have refused to pay or to come to clear
themselves, then the citizens to whom they are in debt
shall [have the right to] seize [by process of law] their
goods [including those in the hands of a third party, and
bring them] into the city from the [town, village or]
county in which the debtor lives [as pledges to compel
appearance in court].
15) And the citizens shall enjoy as good and full hunting
rights as their ancestors ever did, namely, in the
Chilterns, in Middlesex, and in Surrey.
Witnessed at Westminster."
The above right not to take part in any case outside the city
relieved London citizens from the burden of traveling to wherever
the King's court happened to be, the disadvantage of not knowing
local customs, and the difficulty of speaking in the language of
the King's court rather than in English. The right of redress for
tolls exacted was new because the state of the law was that the
property of the inhabitants was liable to the king or superior
lord for the common debt.
Newcastle-on-Tyne was recognized by the king as having certain
customs, so the following was not called a grant:
"These are the laws and customs which the burgesses of Newcastle
upon Tyne had in the time of Henry King of England and ought to
have.
[1] Burgesses can distrain [take property of another until
the other performs his obligation] upon foreigners within,
or without their own market, within or without their own
houses, and within or without their own borough without the
leave of the reeve, unless the county court is being held in
the borough, and unless [the foreigners are] on military
service or guarding the castle.
[2] A burgess cannot distrain upon a burgess without the
leave of the reeve.
[3] If a burgess have lent anything of his to a foreigner,
let the debtor restore it in the borough if he admits the
debt, if he denies it, let him justify himself in the
borough.
[4] Pleas which arise in the borough shall be held and
concluded there, except pleas of the Crown.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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