The Times: 1485-1509
Henry Tudor and other exiles defeated and killed Richard III on
Bosworth field, which ends the civil War of the Roses between the
Lancaster and York factions. As King, Henry VII restored order to the
nation. He was readily accepted as king because he was descended from
the Lancaster royal line and he married a woman from the York royal
line. Henry was intelligent and sensitive. He weighed alternatives and
possible consequences before taking action. He was convinced by reason
on what plans to make. In his reign of 24 years, Henry applied himself
diligently to the details of the work of government to make it work
well. He strengthened the monarchy, shored up the legal system to work
again, and provided a peace in the land in which a renaissance of the
arts and sciences, culture, and the intellectual life could flourish.
His primary strategy was enacting and enforcing statutes to shore up
the undermined legal system, which includes the establishment of a new
court: the Court of the Star Chamber, to obtain punishment of persons
whom juries were afraid to convict. It had no jury and no grand jury
indictment. For speed and certainty, it tried people "ex officio": by
virtue of its office. Suspects were required to take an oath ex
officio, by which they swore to truthfully answer all questions put to
them. A man could not refuse to answer on the grounds of
self-incrimination. The Star Chamber was the room in which the King's
council had met since the 1300s.
The most prevalent problems were: murder, robbery, rape or
forced marriage of wealthy women, counterfeiting of coin, extortion,
misdemeanors by sheriffs and escheators, bribing of sheriffs and
jurors, perjury, livery and maintenance agreements, idleness, unlawful
plays, and riots. Interference with the course of justice was not
committed only by lords on behalf of their retainers; men of humbler
station were equally prone to help their friends in court or to give
assistance in return for payment. Rural juries were intimidated by the
old baronage and their armed retinues. Juries in municipal courts were
subverted by gangs of townsmen. Justices of the Peace didn't enforce
the laws. The agricultural work of the nation had been adversely
affected.
Henry made policy with the advice of his council and had
Parliament enact it into legislation. He dominated Parliament by having
selected most of its members. Many of his council were sons of
burgesses and had been trained in universities. He chose competent and
especially trusted men for his officers and commanders of castles and
garrison. The fact that only the king had artillery deterred barons
from revolting. Also, the baronial forces were depleted due to the
civil War of the Roses. If Henry thought a magnate was exercising his
territorial power to the King's detriment, he confronted him with an
army and forced him to bind his whole family in recognizances for large
sums of money to ensure future good conduct. Since the king had the
authority to interpret these pledges, they were a formidable check on
any activity which could be considered to be disloyal. The earl of
Kent, whose debts put him entirely at the King's mercy, was bound to
"be seen daily once in the day within the King's house". Henry also
required recognizances from men of all classes, including clergy,
captains of royal castles, and receivers of land. The higher nobility
now consisted of about twenty families. The heavy fines by the Star
Court put an end to conspiracies to defraud, champerty [an agreement
with a litigant to pay costs of litigation for a share in the damages
awarded], livery, and maintenance. The ties between the nobility and
the Justices of the Peace had encouraged corruption of justice. So
Henry appointed many of the lesser gentry and attorneys as Justices of
the Peace. Also he appointed a few of his councilors as nonresident
Justices of the Peace. There were a total of about thirty Justices of
the Peace per county. Their appointments were indefinite and most
remained until retirement or death. Henry instituted the Yeomen of the
Guard to be his personal bodyguards night and day.
Many bills of attainder caused lords to lose their land to the
King. Most of these lords had been chronic disturbers of the peace.
Henry required retainers to be licensed, which system lasted until
about 1600. Henry was also known to exhaust the resources of barons he
suspected of disloyalty by accepting their hospitality for himself and
his household for an extended period of time.
Henry built up royal funds by using every available procedure
of government to get money, by maximizing income from royal estates by
transferring authority over them from the Exchequer to knowledgeable
receivers, and from forfeitures of land and property due to attainders
of treason. He also personally reviewed all accounts and initialed
every page, making sure that all payments were made. He regularly
ordered all men with an income of 800s. [40 pounds] yearly from lands
or revenue in hand to receive knighthoods, which were avoided by those
who did not want to fight, or pay a high fee. As a result, the Crown
became rich and therefore powerful.
Henry's Queen, Elizabeth, was a good influence on his
character. Her active beneficence was a counteracting influence to his
avaricious predisposition. When Henry and his Queen traveled through
the nation, they often stopped to talk to the common people. They
sometimes gave away money, such as to a man who had lost his hand.
Henry paid for an intelligent boy he met to go to school.
Henry had the first paper mill erected in the nation. He
fostered the reading of books and the study of Roman law, the classics,
and the Bible. He had his own library and gave books to other libraries.
The age of entry to university was between 13 and 16. It took
four years' study of grammar, logic, and rhetoric to achieve the
Bachelor of Arts degree and another five before a master could begin a
specialized study of the civil law, canon law, theology, or medicine.
Humanist studies were espoused by individual scholars at the three
centers of higher learning: Oxford University, Cambridge University,
and the Inns of Court in London. The Inns of Court attracted the sons
of gentry and merchants pursuing practical and social accomplishments.
The text of "readings" to members of the inns survive from this time.
In the legalistic climate of these times, attorneys were prosperous.
The enclosure of land by hedges for sheep farming continued,
especially by rich merchants who bought country land for this purpose.
Often this was land that had been under the plough. Any villeins were
given their freedom and they and the tenants at will were thrown off it
immediately. That land held by copyholders of land who had only a life
estate, was withheld from their sons. Only freeholders and copyholders
with the custom of the manor in their favor were secure against
eviction. But they could be pressured to sell by tactics such as
breeding rabbits or keeping geese on adjoining land to the detriment of
their crops, or preventing them from taking their traditional short
cuts across the now enclosed land to their fields. The real line of
distinction between rural people was one of material means instead of
legal status: free or unfree. On one extreme was the well-to-do yeoman
farmer farming his own land. On the other extreme was the agricultural
laborer working for wages. Henry made several proclamations ordering
certain enclosures to be destroyed and tillage to be restored.
Other land put to use for sheep breeding was waste land. There
were three sheep to every person. The nearby woodlands no longer had
wolves or lynx who could kill the sheep. Bears and elk are also
gone.There were still deer, wild boar, wildcats and wild cattle in vast
forests for the lords to hunt. Wood was used for houses, arms, carts,
bridges, and ships.
The villages were still isolated from each other, so that a
visitor from miles away was treated as warily as a foreigner. Most
people lived and died where they had been born. A person's dialect
indicated his place of origin. The life of the village still revolved
around the church. In some parishes, its activities were highly
organized, with different groups performing different functions. For
example, the matrons looked after a certain altar; the maidens raised
money for a chapel or saw to the gilding of the images; the older men
collected money for church repair; and the younger men organized the
church ales and the church plays. Wills often left property or rents
from leased land to the church. Church cows and sheep given could be
leased out to villagers. Church buildings given could be leased out,
turned over to the poor, used to brew ale or bake bread for church
ales, or used in general as a place for church activities. Church ales
would usually a good source of income; alehouses would be closed during
the ceremonies and parishioners would contribute malt for the ale and
grain, eggs, butter, cheese, and fruits.
The largest town, London, had a population of about 70,000.
Other towns had a population less than 20,000. The population was
increasing, but did not reach the level of the period just before the
black death.
In most large towns, there were groups of tailors and
hatmakers, glovers, and other leatherworkers. Some towns had a
specialization due to their proximity to the sources of raw materials,
such as nails, cutlery, and effigies and altars. Despite the spread of
wool manufacturing to the countryside, there was a marked increase of
industry and prosperity in the towns. The principal streets of the
larger towns were paved with gravel. Guild halls became important and
imposing architecturally.
A large area of London was taken up by walled gardens of the
monasteries and large mansions. There were some houses of stone and
timber and some mansions of brick and timber clustered around palaces.
In these, bedrooms increased in number, with rich bed hangings, linen
sheets, and bolsters. Bedspreads were introduced. Nightgowns were worn.
Fireplaces became usual in all the rooms. Tapestries covered the walls.
Carpets were used in the private rooms. Some of the great halls had
tiled floors. The old trestle tables were replaced by tables with legs.
Benches and stools had backs to lean on. A long gallery was used for
exercise, recreation such as music and dancing, and private
conversations. Women and men wore elaborate headdresses. On the outer
periphery are taverns and brothels, both made of mud and straw. Houses
are beginning to be built outside the walls of London along the Thames
because the collapse of the power of the great feudal lords decreased
the fear of an armed attack on London. The merchants introduced this
idea of living at a distance from the place of work so that they could
escape living in the narrow, damp, and dark lanes of the City and have
more light and space. Indeed no baronial army ever threatened the king
again. East of London were cattle pastures, flour mills, bakers,
cloth-fulling mills, lime burners, brick and tile makers, bell
founders, and ship repairing. There was a drawbridge on the south part
of London Bridge for defense and to let ships through. Water sports
were played on the Thames such as tilting at each other with lances
from different boats.
The Tailors' and Linen Armorers' Guild received a charter in
1503 from the king as the "Merchant Tailors" to use all wares and
merchandise, especially wool cloth, as well wholesale as retail,
throughout the nation. Some schooling was now being made compulsory in
certain trades; the goldsmiths' company made a rule that all
apprentices had to be able to read and write. There are guilds of
ironmongers, salters, and haberdashers [hats and caps]
A yeoman was the second-rank person of some importance, below a
knight, below a gentleman, below a full member of a guild. In London,
it meant the journeyman or second adult in a small workshop. These
yeomen had their own fraternities and were often on strike. Some yeomen
in the large London industries, e.g. goldsmiths, tailors, cloth
workers, who had served an apprenticeship started their own businesses
in London suburbs outside the jurisdiction of their craft to search
them.
The Merchant Adventurers created a London fellowship
confederacy to make membership of their society and compliance with its
regulations binding on all cloth traders and to deal with common
interests and difficulties such as taxation, relations with rulers, and
dangers at sea. They made and enforced trading rules, chartered fleets,
and organized armed convoys when the seas were unsafe and coordinated
policies with Henry VII. Membership could be bought for a large fee or
gained by apprenticeship or by being the son of a member.
Tudor government was paternalistic, curtailing cutthroat
competition, fixing prices and wages, and licensing production under
grants of monopoly to achieve a stable and contented society and a fair
living for all.
Foreign trade was revived because it was a period of
comparative peace. The nation sought to sell as much as possible to
foreign nations and to buy at little as possible and thereby increase
its wealth in gold and silver, which could be used for currency.
Ships weighed 200 tons and had twice the cargo space they had
previously. Their bows were more pointed and their high prows made them
better able to withstand gales. The mariners' compass with a pivoting
needle and circular dial with a scale was introduced. The scale gave
precision to directions. Ships had three masts. On the first was a
square sail. On the second was a square sail with a small rectangular
sail above it. On the third was a three cornered lateen sail. These
sails make it possible to sail in almost any direction. This opened the
seas of the world to navigation. At this time navigators kept their
knowledge and expertise secret from others. Adventurous seamen went on
voyages of discovery, such as John Cabot to North America in 1497,
following Italian Christopher Columbus' discovery of the new world in
1492. Ferdinand Magellan of Portugal circumnavigated the world in 1519,
proving uncontrovertedly that the earth was spherical rather than flat.
Theologians had to admit that Jerusalem was not the center of the
world. Sailors overcame their fear of tumbling into one of the openings
into hell that they believed were far out into the Atlantic Ocean and
ceased to believe that a red sunset in the morning was due to a
reflection from hell. Seamen could venture forth into the darkness of
the broad Atlantic Ocean with a fair expectation of finding their way
home again. They gradually learned that there were no sea serpents or
monsters that would devour foolhardy mariners. They learned to endure
months at sea on a diet of salt beef, beans, biscuits, and stale water
and the bare deck for a bed. But there were still mutinies and
disobedient pilots. Mortality rates among seamen were high. There are
more navy ships, and they have some cannon.
The blast furnace was introduced in the iron industry. A blast
of hot air was constantly forced from a stove into the lower part of
the furnace which was heating at high temperature a mixture of the iron
ore and a reducing agent that combined with the oxygen released. After
the iron was extracted, it was allowed to harden and then reheated and
hammered on an anvil to shape it and to force out the hard, brittle
impurities. Blast furnace heat was maintained by bellows worked by
water wheels. Alchemists sought to make gold from the baser metals and
to make a substance that would give them immortality. There was some
thought that suffocation in mines, caverns, wells, and cellars was not
due to evil spirits, but to bad air such as caused by "exhalation of
metals".
In 1502, German Peter Henlein invented the pocket watch and the
mainspring inside it.
There were morality plays in which the seven deadly sins: pride,
covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth, fought the seven
cardinal virtues: faith, hope, charity, prudence, temperance, justice,
and strength, respectively, for the human soul. The play "Everyman"
demonstrates that every man can get to heaven only by being virtuous
and doing good deeds in his lifetime. It emphasizes that death may come
anytime to every man, when his deeds will be judged as to their
goodness or sinfulness. Card games were introduced. The legend of Robin
Hood was written down.
The Commons gained the stature of the Lords and statutes were
regularly enacted by the "assent of the Lords spiritual and temporal
and the Commons". The Commons now assented instead merely requested
enactments.
The Law
Royal proclamations clarifying, refining or amplifying the law
had the force of parliamentary statutes. In 1486, the King proclaimed
that "Forasmuch as many of the King our sovereign lord's subjects
[have] been disposed daily to hear feigned, contrived, and forged
tidings and tales, and the same tidings and tales, neither dreading God
nor his Highness, utter and tell again as though they were true, to the
great hurt of divers of his subjects and to his grievous displeasure:
Therefore, in eschewing of such untrue and forged tidings and tales,
the King our said sovereign lord straitly chargeth and commandeth that
no manner person, whatsoever he be, utter nor tell any such tidings or
tales but he bring forth the same person the which was author and
teller of the said tidings or tales, upon pain to be set on the
pillory, there to stand as long as it shall be thought convenient to
the mayor, bailiff, or other official of any city, borough, or town
where it shall happen any such person to be taken and accused for any
such telling or reporting of any such tidings or tales. Furthermore the
same our sovereign lord straitly chargeth and commandeth that all
mayors, bailiffs, and other officers diligently search and inquire of
all such persons tellers of such tidings and tales not bringing forth
the author of the same, and them set on the pillory as it is above
said." He also proclaimed in 1487 that no one, except peace officers,
may carry a weapon, e.g. bows, arrows, or swords, in any town or city
unless on a journey. He proclaimed in 1498 that no one may refuse to
receive silver pennies or other lawful coin as payment regardless of
their condition as clipped, worn, thin, or old, on pain of imprisonment
and further punishment.
A statute provided that: Lords holding castles, manors, lands
and tenements by knight's service of the king shall have a writ of
right for wardship of the body as well as of the land of any minor heir
of a deceased person who had the use [beneficial enjoyment of a trust]
of the land for himself and his heirs as if the land had been in the
possession of the deceased person. And if such an heir is of age, he
shall pay relief to the lord as if he had inherited possession of the
land. An heir in ward shall have an action of waste against his lord as
if his ancestor had died seised of the land. That is, lands of "those
who use" shall be liable for execution of his debt and to the chief
lord for his relief and heriot, and if he is a bondsman, they may be
seized by the lord. The king tried to retain the benefits of feudal
incidents on land by this Statute of Uses, but attorneys sought to
circumvent it by drafting elaborate and technical instruments to convey
land free of feudal burdens.
Any woman who has an estate in dower, or for a term of life, or
in [fee] tail, jointly with her husband, or only to herself, or to her
use, in any manors, lands, tenements, or other hereditaments of the
inheritance or purchase of her husband, or given to the said husband
and wife in tail, or for term of life, by any of the ancestors of the
said husband, or by any other person seised to the use of the said
husband, or of his ancestors, who, by herself or with any after taken
husband; discontinue, alienate, release, confirm with warranty or, by
collusion, allow any recovery of the same against them or any other
seised to their use, such action shall be void. Then, the person to
whom the interest, title, or inheritance would go after the death of
such woman may enter and possess such premises. This does not affect
the common law that a woman who is single or remarried may give, sell,
or make discontinuance of any lands for the term of her life only.
All deeds of gift of goods and chattels made of trust, to the
use of the giver [grantor and beneficiary of trust], to defraud
creditors are void.
It is a felony to carry off against her will, a woman with
lands and tenements or movable goods, or who is heir-apparent to an
ancestor. This includes taking, procuring, abetting, or knowingly
receiving a woman taken against her will.
A vagabond, idle, or suspected person shall be put in the
stocks for three days with only bread and water, and then be put out of
the town. If he returns, he shall spend six days in the stocks. (A few
years later this was changed to one and three days, respectively.)
Every beggar who is not able to work, shall return to the hundred where
he last dwelled, is best known, or was born and stay there.
No one may take pheasants or partridges by net snares or other
devices from his own warren [breeding ground], upon the freehold of any
other person, or else forfeit 200s., one half to the owner of the land
and the other half to the suer. No one may take eggs of any falcon,
hawk, or swan out of their nest, whether it is on his land or any other
man's land, on pain of imprisonment for one year and fine at the King's
will, one half to the King, and the other half to the holder of the
land, or owner of the swan. No man shall bear any English hawk, but
shall have a certificate for any imported hawk, on pain for forfeiture
of such. No one shall drive falcons or hawks from their customary
breeding place to another place to breed or slay any for hurting him,
or else forfeit 200s. after examination by a Justice of the Peace, one
half going to the king and one half to the suer.
Any person without a forest of his own who has a net device
with which to catch deer shall pay 200s. for each month of possession.
Anyone stalking a deer with beasts anywhere not in his own forest shall
forfeit 200s. Anyone taking any heron by device other than a hawk or
long bow shall forfeit 6s.8d. No one shall take a young heron from its
nest or pay 10s. for each such heron. Two justices may decide such an
issue, and one tenth of the fine shall go to them.
No man shall shoot a crossbow except in defense of his house,
other than a lord or one having 2,667s. of land because their use had
resulted in too many deer being killed. (The longbow was not forbidden.)
No beasts may be slaughtered or cut up by butchers within the
walls of a town, or pay 12d. for every ox and 8d. for every cow or
other beast, so that people will not be annoyed and distempered by foul
air, which may cause them sickness.
No tanner may be a currier [dressed, dyed, and finished tanned
leather] and no currier may be a tanner. No shoemaker [cordwainer] may
be a currier and no currier may be a shoemaker. No currier shall curry
hides which have not been tanned. No tanner shall sell other than red
leather. No tanner may sell a hide before it is dried. No tanner may
tan sheepskins.
No long bow shall be sold over the price of 3s.4d.
Good wood for making bows may be imported without paying
customs.
No grained cloth of the finest making shall be sold for more
than 16s., nor any other colored cloth for more than 11s. per yard, or
else forfeit 40s. for every yard so sold. No hat shall be sold for more
than 20d. and no cap shall be sold for more than 2s.8d., or else
forfeit 40s. for each so sold.
Silver may not be sold or used for any use but goldsmithery or
amending of plate to make it good as sterling, so that there will be
enough silver with which to make coinage.
Each feather bed, bolster, or pillow for sale shall be stuffed
with one type of stuffing, that is, dry pulled feathers or with clean
down alone, and with no sealed feathers nor marsh grass, nor any other
corrupt stuffings. Each quilt, mattress, or cushion for sale shall be
stuffed with one type of stuffing, that is, clean wool, or clean flocks
alone, and with no horsehair, marsh grass, neatshair, deershair, or
goatshair, which is wrought in lime fats and gives off an abominable
and contagious odor when heated by a man's body, on pain of forfeiture
of such.
Salmon shall be sold by standard volume butts and barrels.
Large salmon shall be sold without any small fish or broken-bellied
salmon and the small fish shall be packed by themselves only, or else
forfeit 6s.8d. Herring shall be sold at standard volumes. The herring
shall be as good in the middle and in every part of the package as at
the ends of the package, or else forfeit 3s.4d. Eels shall be sold at
standard volumes, and good eels shall not be mixed with lesser quality
eels, or else forfeit 10s. The fish shall be packed in the manner
prescribed or else forfeit 3s.4d. for each vessel.
Fustians shall always be shorn with the long shear, so that it
can be worn for at least two years. If an iron or anything else used to
dress such injures the cloth so that it wears out after four months,
20s. shall be forfeited for each default, one half to the king and the
other half to the suer.
Pewter and brass ware for sale shall be of the quality of that
of London and marked by its maker, on pain of forfeiture of such, and
may be sold only at open fairs and markets or in the seller's home, or
else forfeit 200s. If such false ware is sold, its maker shall forfeit
its value, one half to the king and one half to the searchers. Anyone
using false weights of such wares shall forfeit 20s., one half to the
king and one half to the suer, or if he cannot pay this fine, to be put
in the stocks until market day and then be put in the pillory all the
market time.
No alien nor denizen [foreigner allowed to reside in the nation
with certain rights and privileges] may carry out of the nation any raw
wool or any woolen cloth which has not been barbed, rowed, and shorn.
Silk ribbons, laces, and girdles of silk may not be imported,
since they can be made in the nation.
No one shall import wine into the nation, but on English ships,
or else forfeit the wine, one half to the king and one half to the
seizer of the wine.
No one may take out of the nation any [male] horse or any mare
worth more than 6s.8s. or under the age of three years, upon pain of
forfeiture of such. However, a denizen may take a horse for his own use
and not to sell. This is to stop losing horses needed for defense of
the nation and to stop the price of a horse from going up.
Freemen of London may go to fairs and markets with wares to
sell, despite the London ordinance to the contrary.
Merchants residing in the nation but outside London shall have
free access to foreign markets without exaction taken of more than
133s. sterling by the confederacy of London merchants, which have
increased their fee so much, 400s., that merchants not in the
confederacy have been driven to sell their goods in London for less
than they would get at a foreign market. Exacting more is punishable by
a fine of 400s. and damages to the grieved party of ten times the
excess amount taken.
For the privilege of selling merchandise, a duty of scavage
shall be taken of merchant aliens, but not of denizens. Any town
official who allows disturbing of a person trying to sell his
merchandise because he has not paid scavage, shall pay a fine of 400s.
Coin clipped or diminished shall not be current in payment, but
may be converted at the King's mint into plate or bullion. Anyone
refusing to take coins with only normal wear may be imprisoned by the
mayor, sheriff, bailiff, constable or other chief officer. New coins,
which have a circle or inscription around the outer edge, will be
deemed clipped if this circle or inscription is interfered with.
The penalty for usury is placement in the pillory, imprisonment
for half a year, and a fine of 400s. (The penalty was later changed to
one half thereof.)
Lawbooks in use at the Inns of Court included "The Books of
Magna Carta with diverse Old Statutes", "Doctor and Student" by St.
Germain, "Grand Abridgment" by Fitzherbert, and "New Natura Brevium" by
Lombard.
Judicial Procedure
This statute made changes in the judicial process: The
Chancellor, Treasurer, keeper of the King's privy seal, or two of them,
with a bishop selected by them, and a temporal lord of the King's
council selected by them, and the two Chief Justices of the King's
Bench shall constitute the Court of the Star Chamber. It shall have the
authority to call before it by writ or by privy seal anyone accused of
"unlawful maintenances, giving of liveries, signs and tokens, and
retainers by indentures, promises, oaths, writings, or otherwise
embraceries of his subjects" and witnesses, and impose punishment as if
convicted under due process of law. These laws shall now be enforced:
If a town does not punish the murderer of a man murdered in the town,
the town shall be punished. A town shall hold any man who wounds
another in peril of death, until there is perfect knowledge whether the
man hurt should live or die. Upon viewing a dead body, the coroner
should inquire of the killers, their abettors, and anyone present at
the killing and certify these names. In addition, the murderer and
accessories indicted shall be tried at the King's suit within a year of
the murder, which trial will not be delayed until a private suit is
taken. If acquitted at the King's suit, he shall go back to prison or
let out with bail for the remainder of the year, in which time the
slain man's wife or next of kin may sue. For every inquiry made upon
viewing a slain body, coroners shall be paid 13s.4d. out of the goods
of the slayer or from a town not taking a murderer, but letting him
escape. If the coroner does not make inquiry upon viewing a dead body,
he shall be fined 100s. to the King. If a party fails to appear for
trial after a justice has taken bail from him, a record of such shall
be sent to the King.
Henry sat on the Star Chamber. Up to 1600, it heard many cases
of forgery, perjury, riot, maintenance, fraud, libel, and conspiracy.
It could mete out any punishment, except death or any dismemberment.
This included life imprisonment, fines, pillory, whipping, branding,
and mutilation. If a Justice of the Peace does not act on any person's
complaint, that person may take that complaint to another Justice of
the Peace, and if there is no remedy then, he may take his complaint to
a Justice of Assize, and if there is not remedy then, he may take his
complaint to the King or the Chancellor. There shall then be inquiry
into why the other justices did not remedy the situation. If it is
found that they were in default in executing the laws, they shall
forfeit their commissions and be punished according to their demerits.
Justices of the Peace shall make inquiry of all offenses in
unlawful retaining, examine all suspects, and certify them to the
King's Bench for trial there or in the King's council, and the latter
might also proceed against suspects on its own initiative on
information given.
Perjury committed by unlawful maintenance, embracing, or
corruption of officers, or in the Chancery, or before the King's
council, shall be punished in the discretion of the Chancellor,
Treasurer, both the Chief Justices, and the clerk of the rolls.
The Star Chamber, Chancellor, King's Bench and King and council
have the power to examine all defendants, by oath or otherwise, to
adjudge them convicted or attainted. They can also be found guilty by
confession, examination, or otherwise. If a defendant denied doing the
acts of which he is convicted, he was subject to an additional fine to
the king and imprisonment. Violations of statutes may be heard by the
Justices of Assize or the Justices of the Peace, except treason,
murder, and other felony.
Actions on the case shall be treated as expeditiously in the
courts of the King's Bench and Common Pleas as actions of trespass or
debt.
Proclamation at four court terms of a levy of a fine shall be a
final end to an issue of land, tenements, or other hereditaments and
the decision shall bind persons and their heirs, whether they have
knowledge or not of the decision, except for women-covert who were not
parties, persons under the age of twenty-one, in prison, out of the
nation, or not of whole mind, who are not parties. These may sue within
five years of losing such condition. Also, anyone not a party may claim
a right, title, claim, or interest in the said lands, tenements, or
other hereditaments at the time of such fine recorded, within five
years after proclamations of the fine.
A defendant who appeals a decision for the purpose of delaying
execution of such shall pay costs and damages to the plaintiff for the
delay.
No sheriff, undersheriff, or county clerk shall enter any
complaints in their books unless the complaining party is present. And
no more complaints than the complaining party knows about shall be
entered. The penalty is 40s. for each such false complaint, one half to
the king and the other half to the suer after examination by a Justice
of the Peace. This is to prevent extortion of defendants by false
complaints. The justice shall certify this examination to the King, on
pain of a fine of 40s. A bailiff of a hundred who does not do his duty
to summon defendants shall pay a fine of 40s. for each such default,
after examination by a Justice of the Peace. Sheriffs' records of fines
imposed and bailiffs' records of fines collected may be reviewed by a
Justice of the Peace to examine for deceit.
Any sheriff allowing a prisoner to escape, whether from
negligence or for a bribe, shall be fined, if the prisoner was indicted
of high treason, at least 1,333s. for each escape. However, if the
prisoner was in their keeping because of a suspicion of high treason,
the fine shall be at least 800s.; and if indicted of murder or petite
treason, at least 400s.; and if suspected of murder or petite treason,
200s.; and if suspected of other felonies, 100s. Petite treason was
that by a wife to her husband or a man to his lord.
Any person not responding to a summons for jury service shall
be fined 12d. for the first default, and 2s. for the second, and double
for each subsequent default.
A pauper may sue in any court and be assigned a attorney at no
cost to him.
A Justice of the Peace to whom has been reported hunting by
persons disguised with painted faces or visors or otherwise, may issue
a warrant for the sheriff or other county officer to arrest such
persons and bring them before the justice. Such hunting in disguise or
hunting at night or disobeying such warrant is a felony. This is to
stop large mobs of disguised people from hunting together and then
causing riots, robberies, and murders.
Benefit of clergy may be used only once, since this privilege
has made clerics more bold in committing murder, rape, robbery, and
theft. However, there will be no benefit of clergy in the case of
murder of one's immediate lord, master, or sovereign. (This begins the
gradual restriction over many years of benefit of clergy until it
disappears. Also, benefit of clergy was often disregarded in unpeaceful
times.)
For an issue of riot or unlawful assembly, the sheriff shall
call 24 jurors, each of lands and tenements at least 20s. of charter
land or freehold or 26s.8d. of copyhold or of both. For each default of
the sheriff, he shall pay 400s. And if the jury acquits, then the
justice, sheriff, and under-sheriff shall certify the names of any
jurors maintained or embraced and their misdemeanors, or else forfeit
400s. Any person proved to be a maintainer or embracer shall forfeit
400s. to the king and be committed to ward.
The principal leaders of any riot or unlawful assembly shall be
imprisoned and fined and be bound to the peace with sureties at a sum
determined by the Justices of the Peace. If the riot is by forty people
or heinous, the Justices of Peace shall certify such and send the
record of conviction to the King.
The King's steward, Treasurer, and comptroller have authority
to question by twelve discreet persons any servant of the king about
making any confederacies, compassings, conspiracies, or imaginations
with any other person to destroy or murder the king or one of his
council or a lord. Trial shall be by twelve men of the King's household
and punishment as by felony in the common law.
Ohanges in the judicial process other than those made by
statute were made by court decision. For instance, the royal justices
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.
Various courts had overlapping jurisdiction. For instance,
trespass could be brought in the Court of Common Pleas because it was a
civil action between two private persons. It could also be brought in
the Court of the King's Bench because it broke the King's peace. It was
advantageous for a party to sue for trespass in the King's court
because there a defendant could be made to pay a fine to the king or be
imprisoned, or declared outlaw if he did not appear at court.
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 sustain a trespass action.
Trespass on the case did not require the element of force or of breach
of the peace that the trespass offense requires. Trespass on the case
expands in usage to cover many types of situations. Stemming from it is
"assumpsit", which provided damages for breach of an oral agreement and
for a written agreement without a seal.
Parliament's supremacy over all regular courts of law was
firmly established and it was called "the high court of Parliament",
paradoxically, since it rarely came to function as a law court.
When a land holder enfeoffs his land and tenements to people
unknown to the remainderman in [fee] tail, so that he does not know who
to sue, he may sue the receiver of the profits of the land and
tenements for a remedy. And the receivers shall have the same
advantages and defenses as the feoffees or as if they were tenants. And
if any deceased person had the use for himself and his heirs, then any
of his heirs shall have the same advantages and defenses as if his
ancestor had died seised of the land and tenements. And all recoveries
shall be good against all receivers and their heirs, and the feofees
and their heirs, and the co- feoffees of the receivers and their heirs,
as though the receivers were tenants indeed, or feofees to their use,
or their heirs of the freehold of the land and tenements.
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 Thames 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 Bishop's Court in London had nine offenders a week by 1500. Half of
these cases were for adultery and sexual offenses, and the rest were
for slander, blasphemy, missing church services, and breach of faith.
Punishment was penance by walking barefoot before the cross in the
Sunday Procession dressed in a sheet and holding a candle.
The following is an example of a case in the chancery court. "A
subpoena was sued against Sir William Capell in Chancery because the
plaintiff in the subpoena had borrowed 60 pounds from him in plate,
which he sold for 40 pounds, and was also bound by a statute-merchant
to the aforesaid Sir William in 80 pounds for payment of this money,
and had also made a feoffment to certain persons of certain land and by
indenture willed that if he paid the 60 pounds the feoffees should be
feooffees to his use, but otherwise they should be feoffees to the use
of the said Sir William; and he did not pay the money and so Sir
William took the profits of the land and sued execution of the
statute-merchant.
Kebell thought he could have this land in conscience, even though he
had execution of the statute-merchant, because he does not have this
land in return for the money in such a way that he is paid twice, but
has it by way of penalty; and (the plaintiff) may bind himself to that,
just as he may give the land away for nothing. If someone holds of me
in return for one penny of rent, he may bind himself in 100 pounds for
payment of this rent and if he fails I may have this penalty in
conscience.
THE CHANCELLOR. When someone is beholden in another in a principal
debt, the debtee cannot in conscience take anything in respect of this
indebtedness except the principal debt, even if the debtor is bound to
him in twenty penalties.
Kebell. In that case you might do much good to those who are bound in
this court to keep the peace and are to forfeit their bonds.
THE CHANCELLOR. The sum which is forfeited for breaking the peace may
be taken in conscience, for nothing can be well done nor can the realm
be governed without peace. This court could not be held without peace.
Therefore it is right that whoever acts against the peace should be
punished. And by breaking the peace a crime is committed, and therefore
it is right that he should pay this forfeiture. (But THE CHANCELLOR
held in this case that the debtee may in conscience take so much of the
penalty as represents his damage by the withholding of the debt.)"
This is the case of the Earl of Suffolk v. Berney in the Common
pleas court: " If the parker of a park licences a man to kill deer in
the park, and he kills a deer by virtue of this licence, both of them
commit trespass; for he has no authority to do this, his authority
being to keep and not to give or sell. But if someone has a warrant to
take a deer, and he is a gentleman, he may take company with him and
hunt there for the same deer according to his degree (but not
otherwise). And it was held that if a parker has a warrant for a deer,
and by virtue of that he requests various people to help him kill this
deer, everyone who goes with him may chase after it by licence from the
parker by parol, without writing."
An example of a manorial case is: "And they present that
Margaret Edmond, who held of the lord according to the custom of the
manor one cottage with curtilage, four acres of land and one acre of
meadow lately in the tenure of William Crosse, took as her husband a
certain unknown outsider without the lord's licence. Therefore she
forfeited her estate in the aforesaid cottage and land, by reason of
which there accrues to the lord as a heriot one heifer, price 4s. And
thereupon William Staunton came and took the said cottage, land and
meadow from the lord, to hold to himself and his according to the
custom of the manor, rendering 3s. therein to the lord yearly at the
terms usual there, thus 3d. yearly of increment for rent. And he will
give the lord 2s. in the name of heriot when it should accrue.. And he
gives nothing to the lord as a fine, but he did fealty to the lord.
Another manorial case is: And that John Mille, who held of the
lord for the term of his life according to the custom of the aforesaid
manor as of the part of Thomas Long, knight, one messuage and three
yardlands of land there by the rent and services therein owed, has
ended his last day since the last court, whereof there accrues to the
lord as heriot one horse, price 10s. And that Edith, the wife of the
said John, claims to hold the aforesaid messuage and land with the
appurtenances while she should keep herself single and chaste according
to the custom of the aforesaid manor. And she did fealty to the lord.
And she was admitted as tenant therein by the pledge of William Spenser
and John Smyth, both for the matter and for repair of the aforesaid
tenement etc."`