Henry II left his work only half done; yet that half was permanent,
and its beneficent mark may be seen on the English law and the English
constitution at the present time.
When he ascended the throne he found a people who had long been
suffering the miseries of a protracted civil war. He established a
stable government. He redressed the wrongs of his people. He
punished the mutinous barons.
He compelled the Church, at least in some degree, to acknowledge the
supremacy of the State. He reformed the administration of law;
established methods of judicial inquiry which gradually developed into
our modern Trial by Jury; and he made all men feel that a king sat on
the throne who believed in a uniform system of justice and who
endeavered to make it respected.