Government Flashcards

Question

Explain the judicial system

Answer 1

Church courts = Ch administration, offences committed by clergy, proving of wills, issues relating to marriage, 'moral' offences Local courts: Manor courts = landholding, rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants, use of common land, responsibilities for drainage and land issues Borough courts = medieval trading systems, specific judicial rights granted by royal charter King's courts at county level = Assizes: held twice a yr to deal with major criminal and civil cases and presided over by senior Westminster judges Quarter sessions: held 4 times a yr, presided over by JPs, to deal with less imp criminal cases as well as civil and administrative affairs Special commissions: set up on when necessary to deal with major issues such as rebellion King's common law courts = King's bench: had superior criminal jurisdiction Common Pleas: dealt with major civil cases Exchequer: dealt with issues relating to royal revenues Chancery and other equity courts = exercised jurisdiction on the basis of equity (fairness) rather than on a strict reading of the common law

Answer 2

Gunn considers administration of justice broadly improved, but with limited effective steps being taken to improve the law Carpenter is much more critical, esp of H7 mistrust of nobility and local society

Answer 3

-Eng would not finance a war to defend the Tudors -H7 needed to have money to defend the Tudor dynasty -Strong finances would protect and enhance the status of the monarchy -He wanted to impoverish the nobles as a means of controlling them -Strong finances would make him less dependent on Parli in times of crisis -He could use money to impress foreign diplomats with his lavish court. It would enhance Eng's status abroad and make Eng look stronger

Answer 4

-Crown lands -Profits from feudal dues and exercise of royal prerogative -Customs revenue -Pensions form other powers -Profits of justice -Extraordinary revenue

Answer 5

1. He was a miserly king who begrudged throwing money away 2. He had transformed royal finances by leaving a vast amount to his son H8

Answer 6

-Research often based on the interpretation of complex sources e.g. H7 own private accounts -Very different picture to what was thought before

Answer 7

-Some debate as to whether H7's greed was a feature throughout his reign or whether he became much greedier in the later stages of the reign -Evidence that contemporaries were relieved at his death: -Lord Mountjoy wrote that such extreme greed was now dead -Sir Thomas More wrote Latin poem for H8 containing criticism of both H7 and advisors, H8 not slow to take hint and achieve cheap popularity by executing Empson and Dudley

Answer 8

Ordinary = revenue which came in every year, although fluctuating in amounts Extraordinary = money that came in frequently. Usually a one-off payment when faced with emergency or unforeseeable expense. It could be made up of parliamentary grants, loans or clerical taxes

Answer 9

-H7 by far Eng's largest landowner and the rental income from his property = very imp part of Crown's ordinary revenue -Income from Crown lands had significantly increased during the reign of EdIV -At beginning of H7 reign income had dropped to about £12,000 per year -This was because the income from land was collected and administered through the inefficient Court of Exchequer -> exemplifies H7 inexperience in such financial matters

Answer 10

-1492 he decided to revert to EdIV's system of administration through the Chamber where policies were formulated and decisions were made -Finances markedly improved and the income from land had increased by the end of the reign to around £42,000 per year -Partly achieved by effective treasurers of the Chamber such as Sir Thomas Lovell and Sir John Heron

Answer 11

Aspect of feudal system that enabled crown to gain profits from property held by a minor

Answer 12

-A right by which the crown could impose a tax on their tenants for the knighting of their eldest son, marriage of eldest daughter or to ransom a lord -Typical of skilful way H7 revived old forms of raising revenue, much to irritation of landowners

Answer 13

Law passed to prevent landed property from being turned into trusts which in modern terms were mechanisms for avoiding paying tax on a deceased person's estate

Answer 14

Dominant social system in medieval Europe in which the nobility held lands from the crown in exchange for military service

Answer 15

-Pursuit of the king's feudal rights was tightened -Increased profits from wardship and in 1504 Parli granted feudal aid -13th C text examined by court's lawyers anxious to find precedents for levying of fees deriving from kings prerogative, and from feudal powers -Obligations payable on the death of a feudal tenant in chief became a useful additional source of revenue which landowners found particularly irritating, esp when statue of uses 1489 cut out potential loophole for avoidance of charge

Answer 16

-Customs revenue = tonnage and poundage granted for life in 1st Parli. Over reign small increase in annual revenue from £34,000 to £38,000 -Pensions from other powers = Tr of Etaples 1492 Fr agreed to pay H7 a pension of £5,000 per annum -Profits from justice = fines and income from bonds. Bonds represented a potential rather than actual asset e.g. 1504-7 a total of at least £200,000 promised to king, not all collected -Extraordinary revenue = H7 received over £400,000 from this. Raising all this revenue provoked rebellions 1489 and 97. Henry had to promise Parli had granted Henry a subsidy of £75,000 , the Convocation of Canterbury in addition offered £25,000 on behalf of clergy

Answer 17

Left plate and jewels worth around £300,000 and £10,000 in cash. Although a substantial sum, a far cry from Bacon's estimate of £1,800,000

Answer 18

-Main victims of his policies = nation's landowners, precisely people whose support Henry would need if threatened -Yet he treated them in a way which might make them threaten the crown -Therefore his policies were quite dangerous ones

Answer 19

-Largely maintained traditional structures, however there were developments, such as est of Privy Chamber 1495 and creation of Council Learned -Kept law and order through the nobility (helped at local level by JPs) whilst his system of bonds and recognisances enforced obedience; a network of spies ensured performance of both -Key focus was improvement of royal finances, in which he achieved considerable success, though at a cost of rising unpopularity and risk of alienating group whom his throne depended on most