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
Astrologers resided with the families of the barons. People
went to fortune tellers' shops. There was horse racing, steeple races,
and chess for recreation. Girls had dolls; boys had toy soldiers,
spinning tops, toy horses, ships, and wooden models.
The state of medicine is indicated by this medical advice
brought to the nation by William's son after treatment on the continent:
"If thou would have health and vigor Shun cares and avoid anger. Be
temperate in eating And in the use of wine. After a heavy meal Rise and
take the air Sleep not with an overloaded stomach And above all thou
must Respond to Nature when she calls."
The Conquerer allowed Jewish traders to follow him from
Normandy and settle in separate sections of the main towns. Then
engaged in long distance trade, money changing, and money lending. They
loaned money for interest for the building of castles and cathedrals.
Christians were not allowed by the church to engage in this usury. The
Jews could not become citizens nor could they have standing in the
local courts. Instead, a royal justiciar secured justice for them. They
could practice their own religion.
William the Conquerer was succeeded as king by his son William
II (Rufus), who transgressed many of the customs of the nation to get
more money for himself. He was killed by an arrow of a fellow hunter
while they and William's younger brother Henry were hunting together in
a crown forest. Henry then became king.
The Law
The notion of the king's peace extended until it was the normal
and general safeguard of the public order.
The Norman conquerors brought no code of written law. William's
laws largely affirmed the laws of the nation as they were in the times
of Edward I. These are substantially all of the laws of William I:
All freemen shall swear an oath of loyalty to William I and shall
uphold his lands and honors and defend them against enemies and aliens.
William will protect them and exact no more than legally owed service.
If a Frenchman summons an Englishman for perjury, murder, theft,
homicide or open robbery, the Englishman shall defend himself by
whichever method he prefers, either the ordeal of iron or trial by
combat. The person defeated shall pay a fine to the king. If an
Englishman summons a Frenchman and declines to prove the charge by
ordeal or by combat, the Frenchman shall clear himself by a
comprehensive oath.
For a charge of outlawry, an Englishman shall clear himself by the
ordeal of iron. When an Englishman brings a charge of outlawry against
a Frenchman, the Frechman will defend himself by combat or by a
comprehensive oath, at the choice of the Englishman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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