Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776Reilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
Courts controlled by lords of large private estates had various
kinds of jurisdiction recognized by the King: sac and soke [possession
of legal powers of execution and profits of justice held by a noble or
institution over inhabitants and tenants of the estate, exercised
through a private court], toll [right to collect a payment on the sale
of cattle and property] and team [right to hold a court to determine
the honesty of a man accused of illegal possession of cattle],
infangenetheof [the authority to judge and to hang and take the
chattels of a thief caught on the property], and utfangenetheof [the
authority to judge, punish, and take the chattels of a thief dwelling
out of his liberty, and committing theft without the same, if he were
caught within the lord's property]. Some lords were even given
jurisdiction over breach of the royal peace, ambush and treacherous
manslaughter, harboring of outlaws, forced entry into a residence, and
failure to answer a military summons. Often this court's jurisdiction
overlapped that of the hundred court and sometimes a whole hundred had
passed under the jurisdiction of an abbot, bishop, or earl.
A lord and his noble lady, or his steward, presided at this
court. The law was administered here on the same principles as at the
hundred court. Judges of the leet [minor criminal jurisdiction] of the
court of a large private estate were chosen from the constables and
four representatives selected from each community, village, or town.
The vill [similar to village] was the smallest community for
judicial purposes. There were several vills in a hundred.
Before a dispute went to the hundred court, it might be taken
care of by the head tithing man, e.g. cases between vills, between
neighbors, and some compensations and settlements, namely concerning
pastures, meadows, harvests, and contests between neighbors.
In London, the Hustings Court met weekly and decided such
issues as wills and bequests and commerce matters. The folkmote of all
citizens met three times a year. Each ward had a leet court.
The king and his witan decided the complaints and issues of the
nobility and those cases which had not received justice in the hundred
or shire court. The witan had a criminal jurisdiction and could
imprison or outlaw a person. The witan could even compel the king to
return any land he might have unjustly taken. Especially punishable by
the king was "oferhyrnesse": contempt of the king's law. It covered
refusal of justice, neglect of summons to gemot or pursuit of thieves,
disobedience to the king's officers, sounding the king's coin,
accepting another man's dependent without his leave, buying outside
markets, and refusing to pay Peter's pence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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