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
No butcher may cut any hide or any ox, bull, steer, or cow so
that it is impaired or may kill any calf under five weeks old.
No butcher may be a tanner. No one may be a tanner unless
apprenticed as such for seven years or the son or wife of a
tanner who has tanned for four years or a son or daughter of a
tanner who inherits his tanhouse. Tanners may not be shoemakers,
curriers, butchers, or leatherworkers. Only tanners may buy raw
hides. Only leatherworkers may buy leather. Only sufficiently
strong and substantial leather may be used for sole- leather.
Curriers may not be tanners. Curriers may not refuse to curry
leather. London searchers shall inspect leather, seal and mark
that which is sufficient, and seize any that is insufficiently
tanned, curried, wrought, or used.
Fishermen and their guides may continue to use the coastland for
their fishing activities despite the trespass to landowners.
Since sails for ships in recent years have been made in the realm
instead of imported, none shall make such cloth unless he has
been apprenticed in such or brought up in the trade for seven
years. This is to stop the badness of such cloth.
Any person killing any pheasant, partridge, dove, pigeon, duck or
the like with any gun, crossbow, stonebow, or longbow, or with
dogs and nets or snares, or taking the eggs of such from their
nests, or tracing or taking hares in the snow shall be
imprisoned for three months unless he pays 20s. per head or,
after one month's imprisonment, have two sureties bound for
400s. This is because the past penalty of payment hasn't
deterred offenders, who frequently cannot pay.
Persons affected by the plague may not leave their houses or be
deemed felons and suffer death. This is to avoid further
infection. The towns may tax their inhabitants for the relief of
infected persons.
Tonnage [tax per ton] and poundage [tax per pound] on goods
exported and imported shall be taken to provide safeguard of the
seas for such goods.
Judicial Procedure
Jurors shall be selected from those people who have at least 80s.
annual income instead of 40s. because sheriffs have been taking
bribes by the most able and sufficient freeholders to be spared
at home and the poorer and simpler people, who are least able to
discern the causes in question, and most unable to bear the
charges of appearance and attendance in such cases have been the
jurors.
Defendants sued or informed against upon penal statutes may
appear by attorney so that they may avoid the inconvenience of
traveling a long distance to attend and put to bail.
No only sheriffs, but their employees who impanel juries or
execute process in the courts shall take an oath of office.
A hundred shall answer for any robbery therein only if there has
been negligence or fault in pursuit of the robber after a hue
and cry is made because the past law has been too harsh and
required payment for offenses from people unable to pay who have
done everything reasonable to catch the robber.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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