Roots of English Law Flashcards
Ratio decidendi?
The reasons for the decision
Why was 1066 siginificant in English and legal history?
William, the duke of normandy conquered England and decided England would continue to use Anglo Saxon legal system instead of the England being taken over by the French legal system
England already had a complex dispute reslution system.
What did 1066 show in terms of the differences in legal systems?
Europe had a civil legal system compared with England’s common law legal system
What, according to the text, was the problem with the pre-existing Anglo-Saxon laws?
Anglo saxon laws are predicated upon customary laws whereby laws vary accordingly to local customs.
instead of a unified set of laws for the entire country. (common law)
What did the Norman conquerers introduce?
The Normans added upon the existing English social structure to create an improved administrative framework
They introduced feudalism
How does the feudalism system the Norman Kings adopted become relevant?
Feudalism was the premise of English property Law from the introduction by the Normans after their conquer in 1066 to 1921.
Describe feudalism
A land ownership system the Normans introduced to England that is based on social hierarchy . The Crown would own and control all the lands followed by the nobles who ** (tenants in chief)** being delegated land by Crown. The sub-tenants had land tenure from their grant by tenants in chief and the process of descending land delegation continued down to **land-holding freeman **
What is the meaning of ‘tenant’ and land ‘tenure’?
Tenant:
An individual who occupies or possesses land or premises through an agreement with the landlord/owner
Tenure:
A length of time during which an individual has a right to occupy a piece of land or property
Why did the Norman Kings (william) and delegates travel around England and what did they face?
To establish a common set of laws for the nation.
They received petitions from the public making complaints regarding the injustice of rulings made by local officials or their local administration
What was the outcome after the Norman Kings heard the disputes?
The Norman kings established stare decesis, the legal principle - ‘like cases alike’.
‘to stand by decisions and not disturb the undisturbed’ Judges acknowledge decisions made for previous similar cases hence the same set of decisions should apply for alike cases instead of local arbitrary decisions
King’s decree was powerful and delivered unified justice
What did stare decesis lead to?
The King’s rules expanded in power and superseded the local customary rules in courts.
Hence the common law emerged for england to adopt laws common to all Englishman disregarding individual customs
Thus expanded the Norman King’s jurisdiction
What’s the basis of feudalism?
Land tenure was only given if the landowner swore an allegiance oath to their ‘lord’ who were those immediate level above in the chain in additional to landowner having tcommittted loyalty to King.
Landowner would need to also give share of their crops to their lord and participate in military service for lord. The lords role in this loyalty bond was to **provide security and assist tenants when needed. **
What was the problem when common law was first established? What solved this?
To seek royal justice, individual would need to travel to Holy Land on Crusade where the King resided.
appointed Delegates of the king made decisions on behalf of the king. These included
‘Curia Regis - the King’s ‘court’ (as an advisory body to the King) and
the justiciars (viceroy to the King during King’s absences from England because they were also Duke of Normandy , owning large amount of land in France)
As Curia Regis received greater quantity of requests for royal justice, specialist bodies were established. What were the branches of specialist common law courts within ‘Curia Regis’?
Together known as?
- Court of Common Pleas (judges hear disputes ‘commonpleas’ brought by people, was in a fixed place westminister in London for 660yrs )
- Court of Exchequer (financial advisors disputes about royal revenue which is why British Treasurer is now Chancellor of Exchequer)
- King’s Bench - advise on general policy questions
These three combined make up the common law courts.
+ Council - resolve individual disputes
Who are the *Curia Regis? *
The King’s loyal retinue also known as King’s Court who provided advice to assist King with decision making. Decisions sometimes were made by members themself due to large quantity
What was the role of the Justiciars?
Part of the delegates and were made viceroys to the king, making decisions and rulings on behalf of the King.
what did it mean to possess a writ
one has received written command from the monarch to perform an act
Who were the Justices of Eyre and what’s their signifance to today?
They were itinerant justices who do not necessarily need to be member of Curia Regis and travelled with a commission to solve disputes around the country.
It is relevant because legal adminstrations were established in different localities in England until 1970s
THE WRIT SYSTEM
What is a writ?
When a complaint is in made to the earlier courts,
A writ is a command by the King to the sheriff (represenative in county) to bring the individual whom the complaint has been made to answer the complaint allegation plaintiff had made
In what way does the writ system remain relevant for common law court actions (such as tort and contract) today?
The notion of writ remains significant because it resulted to the use of causes of action that are legal grounds and facts the plaintiff must establish before litigation
Why did the King use wager of law, what did it consist of and what is the significance of water law to the modern legal system?
For all cases, The King may have used** Wager of Law which **used local people to assist with assessment of defendant and help the King arrive with a decision for the local case
This was the origin of the jury system. In which today, juries are commonly used in criminal law however, can be used in civil cases.
What was problem the Writ System encountered?
In 1258, it was the high demand for writs and when they were unavailable, judges in common law enabled ‘legal fiction’
Procedural problems in the writ system that underpinned common law.
a claim in the early common law courts was accepted if the facts and circumstances fitted within one of the recognised writs or ‘cause of action’. Plaintiff but establish ‘cause of action’ before litigating
What problem did the King and his delegates encounter when they travelled around England to make decisions?
What techniques did the King use to assist his decision making in different localities?
Lacked local knowledge
- Trial by ordeal
- Trial by battle
- Wager of Law for all cases
Similarites and differences between wager of law and the jury system.
Determine if defendant was being truthful
Wager of law, local men were selected by travelling justices because of their local knowedge compared with the need for modern jurors to be impartial ( no prior knowledge or relation to event) indepedent and not a lawyer
