Our Legal Heritage: The First Thousand Years: 600 - 1600: King Aethelbert - Queen ElizabethReilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: The First Thousand Years: 600 - 1600: King Aethelbert - Queen Elizabeth
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
If a person feoffs his land to other persons while retaining the
use thereof for himself, it shall be treated as if he were still
seised of the land. Thus, relief and heriot will still be paid
for land in socage. And debts and executions of judgments may be
had upon the land and tenements.
The penalty for not paying customs is double the value of the
goods.
The town of London shall have jurisdiction over flooding and
unlawful fishing nets in that part of the Thames River that
flows next to it.
The city of London shall have jurisdiction to enforce free
passage of boats on the Severn River in the city, interruption
of which carries a fine of 400s., two-thirds to the King and one
third to the suer.
Jurors impaneled in London shall be of lands, tenements, or goods
and chattels, to the value of 133s. And if the case concerns
debt or damages at least 133s, the jurors shall have lands,
tenements, goods, or chattels, to the value of 333s. This is to
curtail the perjury that has gone on with jurors of little
substance, discretion, and reputation.
A party grieved by a false verdict of any court in London may
appeal to the Hustings Court of London, which hears common pleas
before the mayor and aldermen. Each of the twelve alderman shall
pick from his ward four jurors of the substance of at least
2,000s. to be impaneled. If twenty-four of them find that the
jurors of the petty jury has given an untrue verdict, each such
juror shall pay a fine of at least 400s. and imprisonment not
more than six months without release on bail or surety. However,
if it is found that the verdict was true, then the grand jury
may inquire if any juror was bribed. If so, such juror bribed
and the defendant who bribed him shall each pay ten times the
amount of the bribe to the plaintiff and be imprisoned not more
than six months without release on bail or surety.
The church may punish priests and clerics for any adultery,
fornication, incest, or any other incontinence of the flesh, by
imprisonment.
Other changes in the judicial process were made by court
decision. For instance, the royal judges decided that only the
King could grant sanctuary for treason and not the church. After
this, the church withdrew the right of sanctuary from second
time offenders.
The King's council has practically limited itself to cases in
which the state has an interest, especially the maintenance of
public order. Chancery became an independent court rather than
the arm of the King and his council. In Chancery and the King's
Bench, the intellectual revival brought by humanism inspires
novel procedures to be devised to meet current problems in
disputed titles to land, inheritance, debt, breach of contract,
promises to perform acts or services, deceit, nuisance,
defamation, and the sale of goods.
A new remedy is specific performance, that is, performance of an
act rather than money damages.
Evidence is now taken from witnesses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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