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Medieval England: The Reign of Edward I, 1272–1307

The development of the legal system

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2 section B

Overview

Common law and statute law, the manor, hundred and shire courts, the general eyre and the Church courts, trial by jury and outlawry, the commonest crimes and their punishments, and Edward I's Statutes of Gloucester and Winchester.

What you need to know

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Key term

What was the difference between common law and statute law?

Key term

Which courts would an ordinary villager expect to meet?

Key term

What was the general eyre?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the difference between common law and statute law?

    Model answer

    Common law was the law of the whole kingdom built up by the king's judges out of earlier decisions; a statute was a new written law made by the king in parliament, which could change it at a stroke.

  2. 2

    Which courts would an ordinary villager expect to meet?

    Model answer

    The manor court for disputes over land, work and petty offences, with the hundred and shire courts above it for weightier matters.

  3. 3

    What was the general eyre?

    Model answer

    A circuit of royal justices sent round the counties to hear the crown's pleas and to check on local officials — dreaded because they fined whole communities for every slip.

  4. 4

    Which cases belonged to the Church courts?

    Model answer

    Anything touching the clergy, marriage, wills or morals; a man who could read his neck verse claimed benefit of clergy and escaped the king's hangman.

  5. 5

    How was guilt decided once trial by ordeal had been given up?

    Model answer

    A presenting jury accused the suspect and a jury of twelve local men, expected to know him and the facts already, then declared him guilty or innocent.

  6. 6

    What happened to a suspect who fled rather than face the court?

    Model answer

    He was declared an outlaw, forfeited his goods, lost the law's protection altogether and could be killed on sight.

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