Our Legal Heritage: The First Thousand Years: 600 - 1600: King Aethelbert - Queen Elizabeth — John Shaqi
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
[9.] I remit all murder-fines which were incurred before the day
on which I was crowned King; and such murder-fines as shall now
be incurred shall be paid justly according to the law of King
Edward [by sureties].
[10.] By the common counsel of my barons I have retained the
forests in my own hands as my father did before me.
[11.] The knights, who in return for their estates perform
military service equipped with a hauberk [long coat] of mail,
shall hold their demesne lands quit of all gelds [money
payments] and all work; I make this concession as my own free
gift in order that, being thus relieved of so great a burden,
they may furnish themselves so well with horses and arms that
they may be properly equipped to discharge my service and to
defend my kingdom.
[12.] I establish a firm peace in all my kingdom, and I order
that this peace shall henceforth be kept.
[13.] I restore to you the law of King Edward together with such
emendations to it as my father [William I] made with the counsel
of his barons.
[14.] If since the death of my brother, King William [II], anyone
shall have seized any of my property, or the property of any
other man, let him speedily return the whole of it. If he does
this no penalty will be exacted, but if he retains any part of
it he shall, when discovered, pay a heavy penalty to me.
Witness: Maurice, bishop of London; William, bishop-elect of
Winchester; Gerard, bishop of Herefore; Henry the earl; Simon the
earl; Walter Giffard; Robert of Montfort-sur-Risle; Roger Bigot;
Eudo the steward; Robert, son of Haimo; and Robert Malet.
At London when I was crowned. Farewell."
Henry took these promises seriously, which resulted in peace and
justice. Royal justice became a force to be reckoned with by the
multiplication of justices. Henry had a great respect for
legality and the forms of judicial action. He became known as
the "Lion of Justice".
The center of government was a collection of tenants-in-chief
whose feudal duty included attendance when summoned and certain
selected household servants of the King. When it met for
financial purposes, Henry called it the Exchequer and it became
a separate body. It received yearly from the sheriffs of the
counties taxes, fines, treasure trove, goods from wrecks,
deodands, and movable property of felons, of persons executed,
of fugitives, and of outlaws due to the Crown. The payments in
kind, such as grain or manual services, from the royal demesnes
had been turned into money payments. This income from royal
estates was also received by the Exchequer and then commingled
with the other funds. Each payment was indicated by notches on a
stick, which was then split so that the payer and the receiver
each had a half showing the notches. The Chancellor managed the
domestic matters of the Crown's castles and lands. Henry brought
sheriffs under his strict control, free from influence by the
barons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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