Post by Zillah on Mar 26, 2007 22:06:23 GMT -6
English law has evolved over centuries from a wide range of sources — Anglo-Saxon, Danish, Norman and Angevin. The country has little in the way of centralized law, though the Magna Carta is the first of many steps toward creating a unified set of laws for England. At present, however, the manorial, hundred and shire courts must adjudicate the law, relying on local interpretations and precedents to guide their deliberations. The existence of numerous town charters further complicates this process. Issued in exchange for money or political support, these charters define local laws, rites and exemptions jealously guarded by the local lords. Nonetheless, for all the complexity of English jurisprudence, there are two broad strands of law — common law, relating to a range of secular matters, and canon law relating to the Church. Common Law Common law governs the actions of secular English society. It recognizes two distinct forms of crime: those involving low justice and those involving high (or king’s) justice. A third strand, forest law, applies to the areas of land designated Royal Forest.
• Low Justice: This element of common law deals with day-to-day matters, including fines for trespassing, brawling, theft and debauchery. Local authorities oversee such matters — the lord of the manor or a hundredor shire-court — and as such, low justice suffers from a wide range of regional variations. A criminal caught in the act may be the subject of a lord’s summary justice — an immediate and usually brutal punishment — but otherwise a trial takes place, with local juries assisting sworn officials.
• High Justice: High justice deals with more serious offenses such as rape, mutilation, murder and treason. Royal Courts always handle such matters, usually either the county courts at the King’s Bench in Westminster or, in exceptional circumstances, the king himself. The Magna Carta defines much of high justice, including the right to trial by jury and habeas corpus (the right not to be imprisoned unlawfully).
• Forest Law: Some regions of England are Royal Forest to protect the land for the king’s hunt. Hunting game within their boundaries is illegal without royal permission — offenders usually have a hand cut off — and no one may light fires or fell wood. Foresters enforce forest law, which falls outside the remit of common law, and punish offenders with fines (called amercements) that are a major source of income for the crown.
Canon Law
Canon law applies to members of the Church and governs the behavior of the clergy and their institutions. Until the reign of Henry II, canon law took precedence over secular law and meted out relatively light punishments. The Constitutions of Clarendon (the agreement that shattered the relationship between Henry II and Thomas Becket) attempted to reverse this situation, though the move foundered after Becket’s murder. At present, the Church may hand a cleric over to secular authorities but is not compelled to do so, nor may someone tried under canon law suffer prosecution for the same offense under common law. Nonetheless, the Constitutions of Clarendon do clearly define the limits of both canon law and common law and their interactions, though the contentious issues that provoked the confrontation between Henry II and Becket — limitations on the right of appeal to Rome and the need to try accused clerics in secular courts — were revoked.