Our Legal Heritage : 600-1776 King Aethelbert - King George III

This was written to appreciate what laws have been in existence for a long time and therefore have proven their success in maintaining a stable society. Its purpose is also to s...

With the ability to grow food and the acquisition of land by conquest by invading groups, the population grew. There were different classes of men. The freemen were eorls [noble...

Men wore long-sleeved wool and linen garments reaching almost to the knee, around which they wore a belt tied in a knot. Men often wore a gold ring on the fourth finger of the r...

If any one fights in the king's hall, or draws his weapon, and he be taken; be it in the king's doom, either death, or life, as he may be willing to grant him. If he escape, and...

Salt was used throughout the nation to preserve meat over the winter. Inland saltworks had an elaborate and specialized organization. The chief one used saltpans and furnaces to...

There was a celestial hierarchy, with heavenly hosts in specific places. God intervened in daily life, especially if worshipped. Saints such as Bede and Hilda performed miracles...

This lawsuit between a son and his mother over land was heard at a shire-meeting: "Here it is declared in this document that a shire- meeting sat at Aylton in King Cnut's time....

Norman customs were adopted by the nation. As a whole, Anglo-Saxon men shaved their beards and whiskers from their faces, but they kept their custom of long hair flowing from th...

The hundred and county courts now sat without clergy and handled only "civil" cases. They were conducted by the King's own appointed sheriff. Only freemen and not bound villeins...

The cloth was crafted by local weavers, dyers, and fullers. The weaver lived in a cottage with few and narrow windows with little furniture. He worked in the main, and sometimes...

Church law provided that only consent between a man and woman was necessary for marriage. There needn't be witnesses, ceremony, nor consummation. Consent could not be coerced. P...

Outside each city gate were clusters of ragged buildings, small monasteries and hostelries, groups of huntsmen's kennels, and fencing schools. Outside one of the gates, a horse...

Mercantile privileges were granted to the shoemakers in Oxford thus: "Know ye that I have granted and confirmed to the corvesars of Oxford all the liberties and customs which th...

A tenant may marry off a daughter unless his lord shows some just cause for refusing to consent to the marriage. A tenant had to pay an "aid" to his lord when the lord's daughte...

Anyone could appoint an agent, an "attorney", to appear in court on his behalf, it being assumed that the principal could not be present and royal authorization given. A wife co...

15. Lucy of Morwinstow appeals Robert de Scaccis and Roland of Kellio and Peter of Lancarf of robbing her of twenty shillings and eight pence, and of a cloak, price a half-mark....

38. Elyas of Lilleshall fled to church for the death of a woman slain at Lilleshall. He had no chattels. He confessed the death and abjured the realm. Alice Crithecreche and Eva...

Roger Bacon, an Oxford master, began the science of physics. He read Arab writers and studied the radiation of light and heat. He studied angles of reflection in plane, spherica...

A widow, after the death of her husband, shall immediately and without difficulty have her marriage portion [property given to her by her father] and inheritance. She shall not...

{Whereas we, for the honor of God and the reform of our realm, and in order the better to allay the discord arisen between us and our barons, have granted all these things afore...

Still in existence is the old self-help law of hamsocne, the thief hand-habbende, the thief back-berend, the old summary procedure where the thief is caught in the act, AEthelst...

In the great houses, there were more wall hangings, and ornaments for the tables. The tables were lit with candles or torches made of wax. Plates were gold and silver. The lord,...

A borough was run by a mayor elected usually for life. By being members of a guild, merchant-traders and craftsmen acquired the legal status of burgesses and had the freedom of...

By 1326, scholars, the nobility, and the clergy had reading eyeglasses, which had been invented in Italy, probably by the glass blowers. Italy was famous for its glasswork. The...

The writ of Quo Warranto [by what right] is created, by which all landholders exercising jurisdictions must bring their ancestors' charters before a traveling justice for the Co...

The Court of the Mayor of London heard diverse cases, including disputes over goods, faulty or substandard goods, adulteration, selling food unfit for human consumption, enhanci...

In London in 1392 craft guilds included: baker, fishmonger (cut up and sold fish), fruiterer, brewer, butcher, bird dealer, cook, apothecary (sold potions he had ground up), cut...

The requirements of elementary and higher studies were adjusted in 1393 and began the public school system. William of Wykeham's school, St. Mary College of Winchester in Oxford...

Vagrants begging in London were banned by this 1359 ordinance: "Forasmuch as many men and women, and others, of divers counties, who might work, to the help of the common people...

Since the power of the throne changed from one faction to another, political and personal vindictiveness gave rise to many bills of attainder that resulted in lords being behead...

There were craft guilds in the towns, at least 65 in London. In fact, every London trade of twenty men had its own guild. The guild secured good work for its members and the mem...

Kings created dukes and marquesses to be peers. A duke was given creation money or allowance of 40 pounds a year. A marquess was given 35 pounds. These new positions could not d...

Justices of the Peace, appointed by the Crown, investigated all riots and arrested rioters, by authority of statute. If they had departed, the Justices certified the case to the...

Royal proclamations clarifying, refining or amplifying the law had the force of parliamentary statutes. In 1486, he proclaimed that "Forasmuch as many of the King our sovereign...

A wrongful step on the defendant's land, a wrongful touch to his person or chattels could be held to constitute sufficient force and an adequate breach of the king's peace to su...

The King replaced Wolsey as Chancellor with Thomas More, after whom he made Thomas Cromwell Chancellor. Cromwell, the son of a clothworker/blacksmith/brewer/innkeeper, was a sel...

A sale of land must be in writing, sealed, and registered in its county with the clerk of that county. If the land is worth less than 40s. per year, the clerk is paid 12d. If th...

Elizabeth prayed for divine guidance as in this prayer: "Almighty God and King of all kings, Lord of heaven and earth, by whose leave earthly princes rule over mortals, when the...

Most of London was confined within the city wall. There were orchards and gardens both inside and outside the walls, and fields outside. Flower gardens and nurseries came into e...

About 1564, the curriculum was changed to two terms of grammar, four terms of rhetoric, five terms of dialectic (examining ideas and opinions logically, e.g. ascertaining truth...

Patents were begun to encourage the new merchant lords to develop local manufactures or to expand import and export trade. Patents were for a new manufacture or an improved olde...

The following statute of artificers regulated labor for the next two centuries: No master or mistress may employ a servant for a term less than one year in the crafts of clothie...

In the common law, trespass has given rise to the offshoot branch of "ejectment", which becomes the common means of recovering possession of land, no matter what kind of title t...

Dress was not as elaborate as in Elizabethan times. For instance, fewer jewels were worn. Ladies typically wore a brooch, earrings, and pearl necklaces. Men also wore earrings....

One fourth of all children born did not live to the age of ten, most dying in their first year. Babies had close caps over their head, a rattle, and slept in a sturdy wood cradl...

John Napier, a large Calvinist landholder in Scotland who had built his own castle, did mathematics in his older years. He explored imaginary numbers such as the square roots of...

No person convicted of Catholicism may practice the common law as a counsellor, clerk, attorney, or solicitor, nor may practice civil law as advocate, or proctor, nor shall be j...

The entourage of Charles I came to be called "Cavaliers". They were named by their opponents for the Spanish caballero who was a Catholic who prosecuted Protestants. Their hair...

The House of Commons was led by John Pym, a middle class landholder with extensive commercial interests. The Commons treated the King's refusal to act with them as a relinquishm...

When Charles was captured in 1646, the episcopacy of the bishops was abolished. When Parliament was about to reinstate Charles as king with weakened powers and establish a Presb...

Since the Puritans forbade music in churches, but enjoyed it in domestic circumstances, much secular music was composed, published, and played. There were many musical clubs. Th...

The monarchy was restored and Charles II came to the throne. The episcopacy of the bishops and the Book of Common Prayer were restored. This book retained all its ceremonies, de...

There were many highway robberies and mob actions in London. Mobs in the thousands would turn out against the Catholics, especially at times of unemployment and trade depression...

The telescope and compound microscope, which has an objective lens and an eyepiece lens for producing a wide range of magnifications, were further developed. Nehemia Grew, the s...

The Bank simply took over from the goldsmiths its main everyday business of deposit; running cash note [cashier's note, specie note, cash note], which was payable on demand and...

Executors and administrators of estates of deceased persons must pay the debts of the deceased person rather than waste or convert the goods and chattels to their own use. Credi...

As of 1696, persons accused of high treason where there might be corruption of the blood or for misprison [concealing knowledge] of such treason had to be taken before a grand j...

London had grown beyond the locations of its walls around the City. London stretched ten miles along the Thames, and was three miles wide in the center. On the east of the City...

There were fewer quarrels among passersby on the London streets; men were less likely to wear their swords. But there were fist fights by common men which gathered crowds and oc...

Thomas Lombe, the son of a weaver, became a mercer and merchant in London. He went to Italy to discover their secret in manufacturing silk so inexpensively. He not only found hi...

Crime was exacerbated by orgies of liquor drinking by the common people, especially between 1730 and 1750, the sale of which did not have to be licensed as did ale. In 1736, it...

Abraham Darby was a Quaker and millwright who made large cooking pots of iron, which cost less than bronze. Around 1713, he experimented with various substances to take the plac...

About 1744, John Wesley became the leader of the Methodist religious movement for the mining and industrial laborers. He lead an aesthetic life, eating bread and sleeping on boa...

Officer positions were no longer bought, but were subject to examination for a minimum of knowledge, especially in navigation. In 1729 the Naval Academy was established. Boys en...

These writs of assistance had been authorized before and had angered Bostonians because they had been issued without probable cause. In Paxton's case of 1761, the Massachusetts...

As of 1717, any person convicted of grand or petit larceny or any felonious stealing or taking of money, goods, or chattels, either from the person or from the house of any pers...

Anyone who steals at night any cloth or wool or woolen goods set out to dry on racks shall forfeit treble damages, or if he can't pay, be sent to prison for three months without...

In the common law courts, trespass in ejectment served the purposes of most of the actions involving land. Assumpsit covered the whole province of debt, and much more. Trover mo...

1. Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, Printed by command of his late majesty King William IV under the direction of the Commissioners of the Public Records of the Kingdom,...