In 1772, all statutes against engrossing, forestalling, and regrating were repealed because they had prevented free trade and tended to increase prices, e.g. of grain, meal, flour, cattle, and other victuals.
Anyone assisting a felon (except for petty larceny) to try to escape from gaol, is guilty of felony and shall be transported for seven years. Anyone assisting a person who owes or is to pay 100 pounds to try to escape from gaol is guilty of a misdemeanor. In 1772, prison keepers were indemnified from creditors for any escapes of debtors due to conspiracy and break out with weapons and firearms rather than negligence, as had been occurring.
Any pirate, accessory to piracy, commander or master or other person of any ship or vessel who trades with a pirate or furnishes him with ammunition or provisions of fits out a ship to trade with pirates shall suffer death and loss of lands, goods, and chattels. Seamen maimed in fighting pirates may be admitted into Greenwich Hospital. (This hospital received support from duties paid by vessels of the realm and of the colonies.) Masters or seamen not fighting shall forfeit their wages and spend 6 months in prison if the ship is taken. Masters shall not advance to any seamen above half his wages since deserting is the chief occasion of their turning into pirates.
In London penalties for crimes against property rose so that by 1740, a child could be hanged for stealing a handkerchief worth 1s. from a person's body.
No more than 600 pounds of gunpowder may be kept in any building in London or Westminster or suburbs thereof. Later, no more than 200 pounds of gunpowder were allowed to be kept therein for more than 24 hours. Buildings may be searched on "reasonable cause" shown to a Justice of the Peace. Later, no more than 400 pounds of gunpowder could be kept for more than 24 hours near any town, or more than 300 pounds for more than 24 hours in any place. Then no gunpowder could be conveyed by land over 25 barrels or by water over 200 barrels.
It was customary for officers to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to any new monarch. When George I became king in 1714, all civil and military officers, clergy, schoolmasters, and lawyers, solicitors, clerks, etc. living within 30 miles of London had to take an oath of allegiance and a new oath that the person was not Papist and agreed that no foreigners had jurisdiction in the realm, such as to excommunicate someone and thus declaring he could be legitimately killed. Soon after, it was required that Papists had to register their names and real estates. Commissioners were appointed to make inquiries. If a person did not take the oaths or did not register, he was to forfeit 2/3 of his land to the king and 1/3 to a Protestant who sued for such. This was in order to deter future rebellions against the king and efforts to destroy the Protestant religion.
Papists enlisting in the army are liable to corporal punishment, but not death, as determined by a court martial.
Any mayor, bailiff, or other magistrate who is present at any meeting for public worship other than the Church of England will lose office and is barred from any public office or employment.
As late as 1722, there was a Papist conspiracy to take the Tower of London and the King, and make a Catholic king. This resulted in the imprisonment of the conspirators and a new statute: Persons not taking the oath of allegiance and above oath that they were not Papist shall register their lands and yearly rents and pay double the land tax and 100,000 pounds. After payment, they are discharged from forfeiting 2/3 of their lands' rents for one year.
Jews may not refuse suitable maintenance to their children who are
Christian to pressure them to convert back to Judaism.
In 1712 was the last execution for witchcraft. By statute of 1736, witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, and conjuration were abolished as crimes.
Black slaves were common for a time in London. This was a result
of the voluminous triangle trade of manufactured goods from
England, slaves from West Africa, and sugar and tobacco from the
West Indies. Slavery was largely abolished by judicial decision of
Chief Justice Mansfield in 1772.
If a sheriff does not answer for money collected for the Exchequer, he shall forfeit treble damages to the aggrieved person, double the sum missing to the aggrieved person, 100 pounds to the king, and 100 pounds to the party who sues. If a sheriff take a fee for levying or collecting money due to the king (except 4d. for an acquittance) or take a sum for not levying money due, he is guilty of extortion, injustice, and oppression and shall forfeit treble damages and costs to the aggrieved person, and double the sum extorted to the aggrieved person. A sheriff may not levy more than 12d. for every 20s. of yearly income of any manor for up to 100 pounds of income, and 6d. for value over 100 pounds.
No one may cut pine trees that are fit for masts of ship in New England without license by the Queen or forfeit 100 pounds. Later, pine trees on private property were excluded.
Citizens of Great Britain may sue colonial debtors by oath before British magistrates and a debtor's colonial lands and houses and negroes may be used to satisfy his debts.
Anyone pretending to act under a charter and taking subscriptions in Great Britain or the colonies must forfeit treble damages.
No hats, including beaver hats, may be exported from any colony even to another colony because this has hurt British hat manufacture. The penalty is 500 pounds. No one in the colonies except present hatmakers who are householders and journeymen may make hats unless they serve a seven year apprenticeship. No hatmaker in the colonies may have more than two apprentices at once.
Whaling ships near Greenland were prohibited from returning until their hulls were full. Vessels built or fitted out in America may engage in whaling.
Pig iron from the colonies may be imported free, but there may be no mill for slitting or rolling iron and no plateing-forge or other engine to work with a tilt hammer and no furnace for making steel erected or used in the colonies or forfeit 200 pounds.
No paper bills of credit may be used in New England because such have depreciated.
William Blackstone lectured on law at Oxford University in 1753. As a result, the first professorship of English law was established. His lectures were published in 1769 as the "Commentaries on the Laws of England". They greatly influenced the American colonists and were the basis of legal education in England and America for years. They were comprehensive and covered real property, crime and punishment, court procedure, contract, corporations, and commercial law. He wrote "The Great Charter and Charter of the Forest" in 1759.
- Judicial Procedure -
For actions under 10 pounds in a superior court and actions under 40s. in an inferior court, the offender shall be served with process to appear in court rather than being arrested. For money at issue, an affidavit shall be taken. No more money may be taken for bail than the amount at controversy. This is to prevent frivolous and vexatious arrests. Perjurers, forgers, those involved in barratry or suborning perjury, and pretenders practicing as attorneys or solicitors in the courts of law or equity shall be transported for seven years to the American colonies. Unqualified people acting as attorneys or solicitors in the county court shall forfeit 20 pounds.
No one may practice as an attorney in the courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, or Exchequer until he has been examined by a judge of such court on his fitness and qualifications and has taken the oath to honestly demean himself and practice according to his best knowledge and ability. The same applies to a solicitor in the equity courts. This shall not exclude persons who have been bound to an attorney or solicitor for four years. Attorneys and solicitors, with consent of an attorney of another court, may participate in proceedings of such other court. No attorney may have more than two clerks bound to him at one time. Attorneys may be admitted as solicitors and vice-versa.
There were twelve common law justices of the Court of the King's Bench, Court of Common Pleas, and Court of the Exchequer. The Chief Justices of all of these courts were paid partly from fees paid to the court. The other Justices of these courts were paid completely by salary, which in 1759 was well over 500 pounds per year. These justices were to continue in office even after a king died and could be removed only for good cause upon the address of both houses of Parliament. The officers of these courts were attorneys. There was one justice at Doctors' Commons. The two chancery justices (since Edward I) were the Lord Chancellor and the Master of the Rolls. The salary of the eleven masters of the court of chancery in 1765 was 400 pounds per year. The officers of this court were solicitors.
Appeals from the Exchequer could be made to a court of the King's Bench and Common Pleas combined. Appeals from Common Pleas could be made to the King's Bench. Decisions of the King's Bench and other common law courts could be appealed to Parliament.
The common law courts rode circuit twice a year in five circuits and once a year in the north circuit. So an accused person could spend up to a year in gaol waiting for trial. Few prisoners were granted bail. In each common law court, the law justices in banc would hear demurrers [contentions that the other party was wrong in the law]. No one with an interest in a suit, including the plaintiff and the defendant, could give evidence. There was no power to amend pleadings, so misspelling of the defendant's name, for instance, could result in dismissal of the suit. In 1730, the pleadings and indictments ceased to be in Latin. Compurgation still existed for debt and detinue.
Writs of error at variance from the original record or otherwise defective may be amended to correct the defect by the court where such writ is returnable. No judgment is to be reversed for any defect in any bill or writ, excepting an appeal of felony or murder, or misdemeanor. This is to prevent delays of justice. Justices of the Peace may correct defects of form on appeals to them.
Plaintiffs neglecting to go to trial after an issue has been joined may be nonsuited.
The qualification for jury service is having land with an income over rents of at least 20 pounds, with leases for 500 years or more, or 99 years, or any term determinable on one or more lives. Being a freeholder is not necessary. In London, the qualification is being a householder and having lands to the value of 100 pounds. No sheriff may excuse a qualified person from jury service for money or other reward. Selection of jurors for each case is to be done by some indifferent person pulling their names from a box. Later, persons refusing jury service could be fined.
Poor persons may be paid up to 6d. to give evidence against felons.
Pirates may not be tried again for the same crime or for a certain crime and high treason. When the marine force was raised, the marines were also given protection from double jeopardy.
In Chancery, a plaintiff filed a complaint and interrogatories prepared by counsel. Only in Chancery could there be discovery. The interrogatories were addressed by court officials to witnesses without the presence of the parties or their lawyers. Officials wrote down the answers in their own terms. So there was no cross- examination possible. Most decrees took many years to be made.
The ordinary administrative court of first instance is that of one or two Justices of the Peace who issue orders in matters of public safety, public order, public morals, health, the poor, highways, water, fields, forests, fisheries, trade, building, fire, begging, and vagrancy. He examined suspicious persons and issued warrants for the removal of persons likely to become a public charge. The Justice of the Peace also regulates wages, servants, apprentices, and day laborers. In his judicial capacity, he tried all crimes and felonies except treason, though in practice death penalty cases were transferred to the assize justices. The Justices of the Peace of a hundred hold special sessions such as for appointment of parochial officers, highway disputes, and the grant of wine, beer, and spirit licenses. The appointment of overseers of the poor, authorization of parish rates, and reading of the Riot Act to mobs to disperse them, required more than one of the Justices of the Peace of the hundred to participate. All the Justices of the Peace of the county met four times a year at Quarter Sessions to hear appeals from penal sentences, to determine the county rate of tax, to appoint treasurers of the county and governors of the county prison and house of correction, to issue regulations on prices of provisions and on wages, to settle fees of the county officials, to grant licenses for powder-mills and other industries, to hear nuisance complaints such as those against parishes for failing to keep their roads in repair, to make regulations for the holding of markets, to hear complaints concerning local government, and to register dissenting chapels. In more and more matters specified by statute, the Quarter Sessions heard appeals from the orders of the individual Justices of the Peace instead of common law courts hearing them by writ of certiorari. The writ of certiorari allows administrative decisions to be reviewed by the common law courts for compliance with law, competency of the court, and interpretation of the administrative law. The writ of habeas corpus appealed administrative decisions to imprison not only after arrest for criminal proceedings, but any coercive measure for enforcing an administrative order. The writ of mandamus was available for enforcing the injunctions of administrative law against towns, corporations, and all other authorities and private persons, where the ordinary punishments were insufficient. Justices of the Peace in rural areas were squires and in towns aldermen.
In 1747, Justices of the Peace were authorized to decide issues between masters and mistresses and their employees who were hired for at least one year. If a servant misbehaved, they could authorize reduction of wage, discharge, and hard labor at a house of Correction up to one month. If a servant was not paid, he could authorize payment of wages up to 10 pounds for an agricultural servant, and up to 5 pounds for an artificer, handicraftsman, miner, collier, keelman, pitman, glassman, potter, or ordinary laborer. Later, tinners and miners were added to the last category. In 1758, employees of less than a year were included.
In 1775, Justices of the Peace were authorized to administer any oath for the purpose of levying penalties.
To be a Justice of the Peace, one must have income of 100 pounds a year from a freehold, copyhold, or customary estate that is for life or for a term of at least 21 years, or be entitled to a reversion of lands leased for 1 or 2 or 3 lives, or for any term of years determinable on the death of 1 or 2 or 3 lives. Excepted were peers, justices, and heads of colleges or vice chancellors at the universities. The Justices of the Peace were selected by the superintending Sheriffs and Lords Lieutenant, the latter of whom were usually peer with a ministers' office or a high court official. No attorney or solicitor or proctor could be a Justice of the Peace unless the locality had Justices of the Peace by charter.
A request for Certiorari for removal of convictions, judgments, orders made by Justices of the Peace must be made within six months and after notice to the Justice of the Peace who may argue cause against granting certiorari.
In the common law courts, trespass in ejectment served the purposes of most of the actions involving land. Assumpsit covered the whole province of debt, and much more. Trover more than covered the old province of detinue. Trespass still served for all cases in which the defendant had been guilty of directly applying force to the plaintiff's body, goods or chattels. Trespass on the case covered miscellaneous torts. Replevin was still used. Covenant remained in use for the enforcement of promises under seal. Account gradually came under the equity jurisdiction of Chancery. Common law writs of dower are largely superseded by the relief given to the doweress in the courts of equity, where new and valuable rights were given to her and to her personal representatives against the heir and his representatives. The actions of indebitatus assumpsit is being extended to actions upon quasi-contract, in which the element of contract is not required e.g. quantum meruit, where a contract is implied from the facts of the case.
Mercantile law was developed by the common law courts, especially the King's Bench.
The king was to appoint the marshal of the King's Bench. The marshal was to select his inferior officers to hold office as long as they "behave themselves well within". These offices had been sold by James I to a certain person, his heirs, and assigns. The marshal was to keep the prison of this court in good repair from his fees and profits of office.
The office of sheriff was now an accessory department of the common law courts for summons, executions, summoning the jury, and carrying out the sentence of the law.
Summons for excise offenses may be left at a person's abode, workhouse, or shop as well as on his person.
The coroner's office now investigated unusual deaths with a jury from the neighborhood elected by county freeholders.
The last beheading was of a Scottish lord in 1747; he had been involved in an attempt to restore the Stuarts to the throne. So many people came that some overcrowded bleachers fell down and crushed about 20 spectators. Henceforth, every sentence of death was by hanging, even for peers.
In 1772, the process of pressing a man to death, if he refused to plead to an indictment was abolished. In 1772, persons accused or indicted, in Great Britain or America, of felony or piracy who stand mute shall be convicted of such charge. Property of a felon was still forfeited to the crown.
From 1749 on were established special procedures for speedy decisions in local courts in some areas for debts or damages under 40s. and imprisonment for such was limited for up to three months. Otherwise, sentences were longer, and debts grew during the time in prison. When prisons were overcrowded, Parliament let the inmates out if they gave up their possessions. They could go to Georgia.
In 1763, the homes of John Wilkes and others were searched for a seditious and treasonous published paper and all related papers because they had been rumored to have some relationship to the conception, writing, publication, or distribution of the paper. Wilkes had such papers and was convicted of libel. He countersued for damages due to criminal trespass. The court held that general search warrants were subversive of the liberty of the subject of the search in violation of the British Constitution, declared the statute void, and found for Wilkes. The Court of Common Pleas agreed on appeal and put the burden of proof on the persons searching to justify the search warrant. His decision gave support to William Pitt's assertion that "every man's home is his castle".
There were felons' prisons and debtors' prisons. Sometimes they were one and the same. There was much fighting among inmates. The inmates slept on hay if lucky. There were no washing facilities and little light. Counties or friends paid for their bread. They were also sold beer, which made them drunk and riotous. The sale of beer was a recognized and legitimate source of profit to the keeper. This was remedied by statute of 1760 that no sheriff or other officer may take an arrested person to a tavern or other public house or charge him for any wine, beer, ale, victuals, tobacco or other liquor without his consent and shall allow prisoners to be brought beer, ale, victuals, bedding, and linen as the prisoner sees fit. Sheriffs often kept people imprisoned unless and until they paid all their fees due to the sheriff. In 1772 was founded the Society for the Discharge and Relief of Persons Imprisoned for Small Debts for those inmates unfortunate instead of fraudulent or extravagant. Legacies were often made to debtors. There was much Gaol Distemper fever with fatal consequences. When John Howard, a grocer who had inherited wealth, but poor health, became a sheriff, he visited many gaols. When he saw the squalid conditions there, he advocated hygenic practices. In 1774, Justices of the Peace were authorized to order walls and ceilings of gaols to be scraped and washed, ventilators for supplies of fresh air, a separate room for the sick prisoners, commodious bathing tubs, provision of clothes for prisoners, keeping of prisoners not below the ground, and apothecaries at a stated salary to attend and to report the state of health of prisoners.
In 1773, clergymen were employed in gaols to alleviate the distress of prisoners and to contribute to morality and religion. Also, no longer may any fees be taken by gaol keepers or sheriffs because persons not indicted or found not guilty have been kept in prison pending payment of such fees. Instead, the counties shall pay to gaol keepers up to 13s.4d. per prisoner so discharged.
There was much Gaol Distemper fever with fatal consequences, so in 1774, Justices of the Peace were authorized to order walls and ceilings of gaols to be scraped and washed, ventilators for supplies of fresh air, a separate room for the sick prisoners, commodious bathing tubs, provision of clothes for prisoners, keeping of prisoners not below the ground, and apothecaries at a stated salary to attend and to report the state of health of prisoners.
Colonials acts which infringed upon the English common or statutory law, or were against the interests of other American colonies were submitted to the Privy Council, which allowed or disallowed them. Appeals from the colonial courts came to the Privy Council.
Judges in the colonies were appointed by royal governors and paid by colonial legislatures. They served at the pleasure of the king. Colonial courts included superior courts of judicature, courts of assize, general gaol delivery, general sessions of the peace, inferior court of common pleas, and commissions of Oyer and Terminer. There were also Justices of the Peace, marshals, provosts, and attorney generals. There were few cases of vagrancy, theft, or homicide. This may have been because the people were few and dependent on each other, and economic opportunities were great.
In 1735 John Peter Zenger, printer of the New York Weekly Journal, was tried for seditious libel for its criticisms and satire of the New York governor, who exceeded his powers, such as by demanding that bills from the assembly be presented to him before the council, and by arbitrarily displacing judges. Seditious libel was defined as "false, scandalous, and seditious" writings. Traditionally, this word "false" could mean "disloyal". The prosecution argued that truth of such criticism was an aggravation of the crime because it was more provoking of sedition, as found by Star Chamber cases. The defense argued for a right publically to remonstrate abuses of power by public officials to guard against violence and destruction of liberties by men in authority. The American jurors, who were supposed to be familiar with the facts pertinent to the case, knew the truth of the paper's criticisms. They agreed with the defense that the word "false" in the definition: "false, scandalous, and seditious" writings, to mean "untrue" instead of "disloyal". So truth became a defense to seditious libel. Pamphletts describing the Zenger trial and acquittal were published and republished in London and the colonies.
Benefit of clergy was available in the American colonies to all who could read and write. It could be used in trials for manslaughter.
- - - Chapter 19: Epilogue - - -
In the time period after 1776, there developed the fuel-saving kitchen range with closed-in-fire between oven and hot-water tank, hot and cold running water, the use of flushing toilets, Edmund Cartwright's power weaving machine, Samuel Crompton's mule for spinning many threads by waterpower in 1779, James Watt's steam engine with steam pushing the piston both ways as well as rotary motion and used in many kinds of factories instead of water power, Henry Bessimer's inexpensive low carbon steel in 1856, iron and steel bridges and ships, drilling and use of oil and natural gas as fuel, Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" opining that competition of the market could distribute resources best, Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man", free trade, democracy, popular elections, secret ballots, universal suffrage, civil service without patronage, Mary Wollstonecraft's "Vindication of the Rights of Women", university education for women (University of London), policemen (in London in 1829), clipper ships (the final development of sailing before steam), percussion caps on guns, Periodic Chart of chemical elements, college degrees in biology, chemistry, and physics, geology, Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism, Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, quantum theory, laws of thermodynamics that the energy of the universe is a constant amount but entropy always increases, computers, decoding of the DNA sequence, Charles Darwin's evolution, Joseph Lister's disinfectant in 1867, Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine, Louis Pasteur's germ theory of disease, anesthetics, aspirin, insulin, penicillin, antibiotics, surgery to replace body parts, tampon, contraceptive pill, discovery of planet Uranus by observation and thence of Neptune and Pluto by calculation from discrepancies in Uranus' orbit, Hubble space telescope, Big Bang Theory, buses (horse-drawn from 1829 with 18 passengers), subways, trains (1804), public railway (1825, goods drawn by engine and passengers by horse), steam ships, steel ships, aircraft carriers, submarines, tanks, friction matches, chewing gum, pajamas, gas street lamps, traffic lights and signs, ambulances, concrete and asphalt highways, census in 1801, children's playgrounds, knee length dresses, chemical artificial fertilizers, substitution of steel for iron, trade unions, digital watches, wrist watches, compact disks, intelligence tests, personality tests, wool-combing machine, statistical analysis, Bell curves, standard deviations, United Nations, carpet sweeper, vacuum cleaner, central heating, apartment high rises, business skyscrapers, electricity, electric lights, sewing machines, water closets in richer houses (after 1778), cholera epidemics, sewers for waste disposal, industrial revolution factories, labor strikes, cars, tractors, Charles Dickens, ice boxes and refrigerators, telephones, central heating with radiators, hot water heaters by gas, gas ovens, humidifiers, canned food, four- pronged forks, suits of matching jackets and trousers, zippers, velcro, wall-to-wall carpeting, popular elections, airplanes, photography, record players, frozen food; cast iron kitchen range for cooking, baking, and boiling; radio, television, plastics, submarines, economics, multinational corporations, weather forecasting, braille, airplanes, space ship to moon, factory assembly lines, washing machines, dishwashers, sewing machine, microwave ovens, copier machines, DNA evidence, nuclear bomb and nuclear energy, guided missiles, quartz watches, bicycles, artificial insemination and invitro fertilization, investment advice, retirement planning, amusement parks, catalogue buying, labor contracts, childrens' summer camps, teenage culture, synthetic materials, typewriters, cardboard boxes, marketing studies, factory assembly line, gene-mapping, animal cloning, internet, hiking and camping trips, world travel vacations, telegraph, word processing, gas, oil, research, credit cards, dental floss, camcorders, mass production, nursing homes, cameras, copy machines, wheelchairs, hospital operations, artificial limbs, organ transplants, pharmacies, public circulating libraries, children's playgrounds, cosmetic surgery, physical exercising equipment, vitamin pills, sports clubs, condominiums, molecules, chromosomes, observatories, radar, sonar, nutrition, supermarkets, disability insurance, liability insurance, chemical fertilizers, DDT, record players, video tape recorders, retirement homes, movies;, planned obsolescence, box-spring mattresses, brain scans, x-rays, organized professional sports, dry cleaners, foreign embassies, psychiatry, veterinarians, drug abuse, wage garnishment, tractors, lawnmowers, breeding zoos, world wars, nuclear deterrence, fingerprinting, forensic evidence, toxic waste, acid rain, elevators, picture windows, sewing machines, automation, cybernetics, pizza delivery, health insurance, Walt Disney, satellite transmission, radiocarbon dating, ice cream, air conditioning, ball point pens, school blackboards, bullets in 1890s, electronic mail, first law of thermodynamics: the conservation of energy, the second law of thermodynamics: potential energy turns into high-temperature thermal energy and finally into low-temperature thermal energy, but these processes are not reversible. The science of philology, on the meaning and history of words began the concept of a natural development of languages which conflicted with the theological view that God had created all the different languages when he punished man for trying to build an edifice to heaven by destroying the Tower of Babel and dispersing the people into all parts of the world with different languages derived from the original: Hebrew, so that they could not communicate with each other. The science of geology developed the concept of tremendous changes in the earth's surface which altered horizontal layers of deposits, in which there were fossils, which challenged the biblical notion of a world and all its animals created in a week. In 1784, Lord Henry Cavendish proved that the sole result of mixing hydrogen with oxygen was water, thus disproving the theory of the four elements of air, earth, fire, and water. In the United States, there was no king, a separation of the executive, the legislative, and the judicial; a separation of church and state, and no aristocratic titles.
In this time period the development of law includes abandonment of common law crimes such as seditious libel in the United States, negligence and duty of due care in the United States replacing the English strict liability for torts, substitution of the caveat emptor doctrine for the English sound price doctrine in contract law in the United States, truth as a defense to charge of libel in the United States, repeal in England of seven year requirement for apprentices in 1814, married women's property acts beginning 1839: (1. right to sue and be sued, 2. right to her own earnings, 3. right to own real and personal property, 4. right to make contracts 5. right to stay in family homestead with children, right to custody of children if husband abandons her), divorce in England by courts in 1857, in United States extension of grounds for divorce beyond adultery, bigamy, and desertion to cruel treatment, habitual drunkenness, and conviction of a felony and finally no-fault divorce, decline of father's paramount claim to the custody of his minor children in the absence of a strong showing of misconduct or unfitness, tender years doctrine (in England in 1839 mother to have custody of child under seven and to have access over seven) and then best interests of child doctrine in custody disputes, legal obligation for parents to support their minor children, adoption about the 1850s; in England allowance of women attorneys in 1922, women to vote in 1928, adultery by a husband to be adjudged as culpable as adultery by a wife in 1923, the rights of a mother over her child to be equal to those of a father in 1924, and the rights of a woman to property to be the same as those of a man in 1926; child labor laws, full religious freedom with admission of nonconformists to the two universities in England in 1871, probable cause instead of suspicion for search and seizure, mandamus, rule against perpetuities, mandatory secondary education, kidnapping, false impersonation, liens, obscenity, estoppel for detrimental reliance on a promise, unjust enrichment, pensions, trademarks and unfair competition, antitrust, privacy, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, bankruptcy, civil rights, union organizing laws, laws on discrimination due to race, sex, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, and sexual preference; sexual harassment and stalking laws, product liability, international law, environmental laws protecting air and water quality, workers compensation, unemployment compensation, controlled substances, intellectual property law; and contingency fees only in the United States,
In England, there was an end of trial by combat in 1819, of compurgation in 1833, and of benefit of clergy. In 1820, there were 160 offences in England with the death penalty, including stealing from a dwelling house to the value of 40s., stealing from a shop to a value of 5s., and stealing anything privily from the person. The penalty for treason was still drawing and quartering. It was a privilege of the peerage to be immune from any punishment upon a first conviction of felony. As of 1823, church courts could no longer decide cases of perjury; as of 1855, no cases of defamation, but only church matters. Hearsay rules and exceptions were developed in the 1800s. In 1816, jurors were to have no knowledge except the evidence accepted at court. In 1837, counsel for a person indicted for high treason could examine and cross- examine witnesses. In 1839, a defendant could see the written record of evidence against him. In 1898, the accused was allowed to give evidence. Pleaders do not have to specify the form of action relied on, but rather give facts which give rise to a cause of action.
Judicial procedure includes grand juries, which hear evidence, court transcript by court stenographers, discovery, depositions, and presumption of innocence (after Salem witch trials in the United States). The United States changed judicial procedure in several respects: parties were allowed to testify, writ pleading was abandoned, and prisons were used for reforming prisoners. Debtors prisons were abolished. Also, the law was seen not as divinely inspired eternal law to be found by judges, but law made by man to suit the times. State judges served for life during good behavior; they could be removed by the procedure of impeachment. In some states, judges were elected. There were privileges on testimony such as attorney-client, priest-confessor, and husband- wife.
- - - Appendix: Sovereigns of England - - -
Accession - Name -
871 Alfred the Great 899 Edward the Elder son of Alfred 924 AEthelstan son of Edward the Elder 939 Edmund son of Edward the Elder 946 Eadred son of Edward the Elder 955 Eadwig son of Edmund 959 Edgar son of Edmund 975 Edward the Martyr son of Edgar 978 AEthelred the Unready son of Edgar 1016 Edmund Ironside son of AEthelred the Unready 1016 Canute 1035 Harold I Harefoot son of Canute 1040 Hardicanute son of Canute 1042 Edward the Confessor son of Aethelred the Unready 1066 Harold II 1066 William I, the Conquerer 1087 William II son of William I 1100 Henry I (and Matilda) son of William I 1135 Stephen 1154 Henry II (and Eleanor) grandson of Henry I 1189 Richard I, the Lion-Hearted son of Henry II 1199 John son of Henry II 1216 Henry III son of John 1272 Edward I (and Eleanor) son of Henry III 1307 Edward II son of Edward I 1327 Edward III son of Edward II 1377 Richard II grandson of Edward III 1399 Henry IV 1413 Henry V son of Henry IV 1422 Henry VI son of Henry V 1461 Edward IV 1483 Edward V son of Edward IV 1483 Richard III 1485 Henry VII (and Elizabeth) 1509 Henry VIII son of Henry VII 1547 Edward VI son of Henry VIII 1553 Mary daughter of Henry VIII 1558 Elizabeth I daughter of Henry VIII 1603 James I 1625 Charles I son of James I 1649 Oliver Cromwell 1660 Charles II son of Charles I 1685 James II son of Charles I 1689 William and Mary 1694 William III 1702 Anne granddaughter of James II 1714 George I 1727 George II son of George I 1760 George III son of George II
- - - Bibliography - - -
1. Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, Printed by command of his late majesty King William IV under the direction of the Commissioners of the Public Records of the Kingdom, Vol 1; 1840. 2. The Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I, A.J. Robertson, 1925. 3. The Statutes of the Realm 4. Statutes at Large 5. A Treatise of the Lawes of the Forest, John Manwood, 1615 6. History of English Law; William Holdsworth 7. History of English Law, Pollack and Maitland, 1895 8. Anglo-Saxon Charters, A. J. Robertson, 1939 9. Franchises of the City of London, George Norton, 1829 10. Borough Customs Vol. 1, Selden Society, 1904 11. Royal Writs in England from the Conquest to Glanvill, Selden Society, 1959 12. Lawsuits in time of Wm I, Selden Society 13. Treatise on the laws and customs of the realm of England, Ranulph D. Glanvill, 1189 14. Calendar of Wills, Court of Husting, London; Ed. Reginald R. Sharpe 15. Calendar of Early Mayor's Court Rolls of the City of London, AD 1298-1307, Ed. A. H. Thomas 16. Legislation of Edward I, T.F.T. Plunkett, 1949 17. English Historical Documents, Ed. David Douglas 18. Bracton on the Laws and Customs of England, Henry of Bratton, 1257 19. Chaucer's World, Edith Richert, 1948 20. John, King of England, John T. Appleby, 1958 21. A Collection of Eighteen Rare and Curious Historical Tracts and Pamphletts, Edinburgh, Priv. Print. 22. Doctor and Student, Christopher St. Germain, 1518 23. Readings in Western Civilization, George Kuoles, 1954 24. Social England, Ed.: H.D. Traill, St. John's College, Oxford; Vol. 1 and 2, 1894. 25. Augustine of Canterbury, Margaret Deanesly, 1964 26. The Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation 27. Political History of England; T. Hodgkin 28. Alfred the Great, Helm, 1965 29. Domesday, A Search for the Roots of England, M. Wood, 1988 30. The English Church 1000-1066; F. Barlow, 1979 31. Life on the English Manor; H.S. Bennet; 1967 32. The English Medieval Town; Colin Platt; 1976 33. London Weavers' Company, Francis Consitt, 1933 34. The Gild Merchant, Charles Gross, 1890 35. Life and times of Roger Bacon 36. Oxford Book of Oxford, Jan Morris, 1978 37. A History of Oxford University, Vivian Green, 1974 38. Lives of the Lord Chancellors, Campbell, 1880 39. Gilds and Companies of London, George Unwin, 1966 40. A History of Technology, Charles Singer, 1954-1978 41. Edward I, Michael Prestwich, 1988 42. Franchises of the City of London, George Norton, 1829 43. The Works of Alfred 44. Salisbury Plain, R. Whitlock, 1955 45. William the Conqueror, F.M. Stenton, 1967 46. Life of William the Conqueror, T. Roscoe, 1846 47. Elizabeth I, Anne Somerset, 1992 48. Queen Elizabeth, Katherine Anthony, 1929 49. Industry in England, H.deB. Gibbons, 1897 50. Henry II, W. L. Warren, 1973 51. Edward I, L.F. Salzman, 1968 52. The Yorkist Age, Paul Kendall, 1962 53. Edward the Confessor, Frank Barlow, 1970 54. The Livery Companies of the City of London, W. Carew Hazlitt, 1892 55. Parliamentary Representation of the City of Coventry, Thomas Whitley, 1894 56. The Government of England under Henry I, Judith Green, 1986 57. Lives of the Queens of England, Agnes Strickland, 1878 58. The Oldest Version of the Customs of Newcastle, C. Johnson, 1925 59. Charter of Henry II to the Burgesses of Newcastle, A. M. Oliver, 1175 60. The Charters and Letters Patent Granted by the Kings and Queens of England to Bristol, Samuel Seyer, 1812 61. Magna Carta, Legend and Legacy, William Swindler, 1965 62. Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland During the Middle Ages: Letters and Papers of Richard III and Henry VII 63. Sons of the Conqueror, G. Slocombe, 1960 64. The Spirit of the Classical Canon Law, Richard Helmholz, 1996 65. Open Fields, Charles Orwin, 1938 66. The Medieval Foundation of England, Arthur Bryant, 1967 67. From Alfred to Henry III, 871-1272, Christopher Brooks, 1961 68. The Anglo-Norman Nobility in the Reign of Henry I: The Second Generation, Charlotte Newman, 1988 69. The Birth of Britain Vol. 1, Winston S. Churchill, 1956 70. Medieval London, Gordon Hoime, 1927 71. A History of London, Stephen Inwood, 1998 72. Tudor England, John Guy, 1988 73. Reign of Henry VII, R. Storey, 1968 74. Elizabethan Life in Town and Country, M. St. Claire Byrne, 1925 75. The Elizabethan World, Edited by Norman Kotner, 1967 76. The Evolution of Modern Medicine, William Osler, 1921 77. Shakespeare's England, Oxford University Press, 1916 78. The Lion and The Throne, Catherine Bowen, 1956 79. Johnson's England, Ed. A.S. Turberville, 1933 80. Education in Renaissance England, Kenneth Charlton, 1965 81. The Scholastic Curriculum of Early Seventeenth-Century Cambridge, William Costello, 1958. 82. English People on the Eve of Colonization 1603-1630, Wallace Notestein, 1954 83. Sir Walter Ralegh, Willard Wallace, 1959 84. Sir Walter Ralegh, Robert Lacey, 1974 85. Constitutional Documents of the Reign of James I, J.R. Tanner, 1961 86. History of the English People, Volumes III and IV, Green 1890 87. Hume's History of England, Volumes V and VI, David Hume 88. English Society 1580-1680, Keith Wrightson, 1982 89. The Century of Revolution 1603-1714, Christopher Hill, 1961 90. Charles I and the Puritan Upheaval, Allen French, 1955 91. Charles I, Christopher Hibbert, 1968 92. Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution 1625-1660, Samuel Gardiner, 1927 93. Life and Work of the People of England in the 17th Century, Dorothy Hartley et al, 1929 94. Home Life under the Stuarts, Elizabeth Godfrey, 1903 95. Cromwell the Lord Protector, Antonia Fraser, 1973 96. The Greatness of Oliver Cromwell, Maurice Ashley, 1957 97. Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum 1642-1660, C.H.Firth & R.S.Rait, 1911 98. History of the English People, John R. Green, 1916. 99. A Social and Industrial History of England, F.W. Tickner, 1929 100. A History of Everyday Things in England, Marjorie and CHB Quennell, 1919 101. The English, Norman F. Cantor, 1967 102. A Concise Economic History of Britain, John Clapham, 1951 103. World Book Encyclopedia 104. Encyclopedia Britannica 105. History of the English Constitution, Rudolph Gneist, 1889 106. The Life of the Law, Alfred Knight, 1996 107. Norton Anthology of English Literature, Ed. M.H.Abrams, 1962 108. The Bank of England, John Clapham, 1945 109. The Honorable Company, A History of the East India Company, John Keay, 1991 110. A History of British India, W.W. Hunter, 1966 111. The Bank of England, John Clapham, 1945 112. Early Speculative Bubbles and Increase in the Supply of Money, M.A. thesis, Douglas E. French, 1992 113. Royal Charles, Antonia Fraser, 1980 114. Charles II, Ronald Hutton, 1989 115. The Life and Times of Charles II, Christopher Falkus, 1972 116. Life in a Noble Household 1641-1700, Gladys Thomson, 1959 117. The Weaker Vessel, Antonia Fraser, 1984 118. A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England, Bryce Lyon, 1960 119. The Laws Respecting Women, J. Johnson, 1777 120. Mediaeval England, Mary Bateson, 1904 121. Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne, David Starkey, 2001 122. A Social History of England, Asa Briggs, 1983 123. The Year 1000, Robert Lacey, 1999 124. A History of Chemistry, Charles-Albert Reichen, 1963 125. John Locke, Economist and Social Scientist, Karen Vaughn, 1980 126. Becoming Visible, Women in European History, ed. Bridenthal & Koonz, 1977 127. Wonder Book of the World's Progress; Inventions and Customs, Henry Williams, 1935 128. Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, Paul Mantoux, 1961 129. Eighteenth Century England, Dorothy Marshall, 1962 130. Georgian England, A.E. Richardson, 1931 131. The Pageant of Georgian England, Elizabeth Burton, 1967 132. The Georgian Gentleman, Michael Brander, 1973 133. England in the Eighteenth Century, J.H. Plumb, 1950 134. London Life in the Eighteenth Century, M. Dorothy George, 1925 135. Law and Jurisprudence in American History, Stephen Presser & Jamil Zainaldin, 1995 136. England in the Age of Hogarth, Derek Jarrett, 1974 137. The First Four Georges, J.H. Plumb, 1956 138. The Review of American Colonial Legislation by the King in Council, Elmer Russell, 1915 139. Select Pleas of the Crown, F.W. Maitland, 1888 140. Select Pleas in Manorial and Other Seignorial Courts, F.W. Maitland, 1889 141. The Forms of Action at Common Law, F.W. Maitland, 1909 142. Equity, F.W. Maitland 143. The Story of the Declaration of Independence, Ira G. Corn, Jr., 1977 144. Internet Medieval Sourcebook 145. Out of the Fiery Furnace video, Robert Raymond 146. A History of Chemistry, Charles Reichen, 1963 147. Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe, Nathan Spielberg, 1987 148. A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, Andrew White, 1955 149. American Political and Social History, Harold Faulkner, 1941 150. Essays in Science, Albert Einstein, 1934 151. The Character of Physical Law, Richard Feynman, 1965 152. Dictionary of National Biography, George Smith, 1882 153. Elizabeth I: Collected Works, ed. Leah Marcus et al, 2000 154. The Crime of Galileo, Giorgio de Santillana, 1955 155. From Copernicus to Einstein, Hans Reichenbach, 1942 156. The Horizon Book of the Elizabethan World, Ed. Richard Ketchum, 1967 157. Tower of London, Christopher Hibbert, 1971 158. Tudor Royal Proclamations, Ed. P.L. Hughes & J.F. Larkin, 1964 159. Selected Historical essays of F.W.Maitland, Ed. Helen Cam, 1957 160. Lloyd's of London, Raymond Flower & Michael Jones, 1974 161. Weather, Philip Thompson etc., 1965 162. Constitutional History of England, William Stubbs, 1891 163. Hillforts of England and Wales, James Dyer, 1981 164. The Last Two Million Years, Reader's Digest Association, 1973 165. London: The Civic Spirit, Robert Goldston, 1969 166. Domestic Life in England, Norah Lofts, 1976 167. Descartes, Tom Sorell, 1987 168. Life in the English Country House, Mark Girouard, 1978 169. Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, Charles Panati, 1987 170. God's Peace and King's Peace: The Laws of Edward the Confessor, Bruce O'Brien, 1999 171. The Bill of Rights, Irving Brant, 1965 172. Issac Newton, Adventurer in Thought; A. Rupert Hall, 1992 173. The Life of Issac Newton, Richard S. Westfall, 1993 174. A History of the Circle, Ernest Zebrowski, 1999 175. Pelican History of England: 1. Roman Britain, I.A. Richmond, 1955 2. The Beginnings of English Society, Dorothy Whitelock, 1952 3. English Society in the Early Middle Ages, Doris Stenton, 1951 4. England in the Late Middle Ages, A.R. Myers, 1952 5. Tudor England, S.T. Bindoff, 1950 6. England in the Seventeenth Century, Maurice Ashley, 1952
THE END
INDEX
abbey; abbot, abbess; abduction; accessory; account; administrator; admiralty; adultery; adverse possession; adulterated; advowson; AEthelbert; AEthelred; affidavit; agreement; agriculture; Augustine. St.; aids; alderman; ale; alehouses; Alfred; alienate; aliens; allegiance; alms; amerce; America; Anabaptist; ancient; Anglo-Saxons; Anglo-Saxon Chronicles; annulment; apothecaries; apparel laws; appeal; appellate; apprentices; appurtance; archbishop; architect; Aristotle; Arkwright, Richard; arraign; arson; Arthur; Articles of Religion; artificer; artisan; assault; assay; assign; assize; assizes; assumpsit; astrology; at pleasure; atheism; attainder; attaint; attorneys; babies; bachelor; Bachelor of Arts; back-berend; Bacon, Francis; Bacon, Roger; bacteriology; bail; bailiff; baker; ballads; Bank of England; bankruptcy; Baptist; bar; barber; barber-surgeon; bargain and sale; barons; baron court; barristers; bastard; bath; battery; beadle; beating; Becket; beer; beggar; benefit of clergy; benevolence; Beowulf; bequeath, bequest; Bible; bigamy; bill; bill of attainder; bill of exchange; Bill of Rights; billet; Birmingham; bishops; Black Death; Blackstone, William; blinding; blodwite; blood-letting; Book of Common Prayer; bordars; borough; Boston; bot; Boyle, Robert; Bracton, Henry de; brass; brawling; breach; breach of the peace; bread; Brewster; bribery; brick; bridge; Bristol; brokers; Bullock, case of; burgess; burglary; burh; burial; burning; butcher; butler; Calais; Calvin; Cambridge University; canals; cannon; capitalism; carbon dioxide; carpenter; carriages; carucage; carver; castle; castle-guard; cathedral; Catholics; cattle; cavaliers; Cecil, William; censorship; ceorl; certiorari; challenge; champerty; chancellor; chancery; Chancery Court; charter; chattel; Chaucer, Geoffrey; chemistry; chevage; Chief Justice; Chief Justiciars; child; child abuse; children; childwyte; Christian; chivalry; Christmas; church; Church of England; church sanctuary; Cicero; circuit; citizen; city; civil; civil courts; civil war; claim; clans; class; clergy; clerics; cloth-maker; coaches; coal; coffee houses; coin; Coke, Edward; College of Physicians and Surgeons; colonies; commission; common land; common law; Commons, House of; Commonwealth; compurgation; compurgator; confession; Congregationalists; Conqueror; consideration; constable; constitution; contract; conventile; conveyance; conviction; cooper; Copernicus; copper; copyhold; copyrights; cordwainer; Coronation Charter; coroner; corporation; corruption of the blood; council; counterfeit; county; county courts; courtesy; Court of Common Pleas; Court of High Commission; Court of King's Bench; courtesy; court martial; covenant; coverture; Coventry; craft; craft guild; Cranmer, Thomas; creditor; crime; criminal; Cromwell, Oliver; Cromwell, Thomas; crown; cupbearer; curfew; currier; custody; customary tenant; customs; damages; danegeld; Danes; darrein presentment; daughter; death; death penalty; debt, debtors; deceased; decree; deed; deer; defamation; defendant; demesne; denizen; deodand; descendant; Descartes, Renee; desertion; detinue; devise; dispensary; disseisin; dissenter; distraint; distress; divorce; doctorate; dog; Doomsday Book; doublet; dower; dowery; Drake, Francis; drover; drunkenness; duel; during good behavior; duties; dwelling; dyers; earl; East India Company; Easter; ecclesiastic; Edith; education; Eleanor, wife of Edward I; Eleanor, wife of Henry II; election; electricity; Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII; embroiderer; enclosure; English; engrose; Episcopal Church; equity; equity court; Erasmus; escape from gaol; escheat, escheator; escuage; esquire; established church; estate; estate administration; estate tail; Exchequer; excommunication; excise tax; executor; export; extent; eyre; factory; fair; father; fealty; fee; fee simple; fee tail; felony; feme covert; feme sole; feoff; feudal; feudal tenures; fihtwite; fine; fire; fire-fighters; fishermen, fishmonger; flint; flogging; flying shuttle; folkmoot; food riots; footmen; forced loans; forced marriage; forestall; Forest Charter; forestall; forests; forfeit; forgery; forms of action; fornication; fortifications; foster-lean; France; frank-almoin; Franklin, Benjamin; frankpledge; fraternity; fraud; freedom of speech; freehold, freeholder; freeman; freemason; freewoman; friar; frith guild; fuller; fustian; fyrd; fyrdwite; gage; Galilei, Galileo; gambling; games; gaols; Gaol Distemper; Gawaine; gentleman; gentry; geology; Georgia; German, Christopher St., gift; Gilbert, William; guildhall; guilds; gin; Glanvill; glass; Glorious Revolution; gloves; God; godfather; gold; Goldsmiths; Good Parliament; goods; government; grain; grammar schools; grand assize; grand jury; Grand Tour; grants; grave; gravitation; Greek; Gresham, Thomas; grithbrice; guardian, guardianship; Guenevere; hair; hall; Halley, Edmond; hamsocne; hand-habbende; harboring; Harrington, James; Harvard College; health; heir; heresy; heriot; hidage; hide; High Commission Court; Hilda; hillforts; Hobbes, Thomas; holidays, holydays; homage; homicide; Hooke, Robert; horse; horse racing; hospitals; house-breaking; house-holder; House of Commons; House of Lords; houses; houses of correction; hue and cry; humanism, humors; hundred rolls; Huygens, Christian; hundred; hundred courts; hunt; husband; hustings court; hut; illegitimacy; illness; illuminators; impeach; import; imprisonment; incest; income tax; Independents; indenture; indictment; industry; infangthef; inflation; inheritance; innkeeper; Inns of Court; inoculation; inquest; insurance; interest; interrogatory; intestate; iron; itinerant; jail; Jesus; Jews; Joan of Arc; joint tenants; joint-stock companies; jointure; Jones, Indigo; journeyman; judge; jurisdiction; jurors; jury; justice; justices in eyre; justices of assize; Justices of the Peace; justiciar; Kent county; Keplar, Johannes; kill; kin, kindred; king; King Alfred the Great; King Charles I; King Charles II; King Edward I; King Edward the Confessor; King George III; King Henry I; King Henry II; King Henry VII; King Henry VIII; King James I; King James II; King John; King Richard the Lion-Hearted; King William and Mary; King William I, The Conqueror; king's peace; knight; knight's fee; knights' guild; knitting; laborer; ladies; land; landlord; land-owner; larceny; lastage; Latin; law merchant; lawsuit; lawyer; Laxton; lay; leap year; lease; leather; leet court; legacy; legislation; legitimacy; Leicester; letters; libel; Liberi Quadripartitus; library; license; life; life-estate; lighthouse; limb; linen; Lion of Justice; literacy; literature; Littleton, Thomas; livery; Lloyds; Locke, John; London; Long Parliament; longitude; lord; Lords, House of; loriner; lottery; loyalty; machine; magistrates; Magna Carta; magnate; maiden; mail; majic; malicious prosecution; maintenance; Manchester; manor; manor courts; manufacturing; manumission; Marco Polo; market; marriage; marriage agreement; marriage portion; marshall; marquise; Massachusetts; Master of Arts; masters; Matilda; Mayflower; mayor; Maypole; mead; measures; meat; medicine; melee; member; merchandise; merchant; merchant adventurers; merchant guilds; merchet; Merciless Parliament; mercy; Merton; mesne; Methodists; microscope; Middlesex; midwives; military service; militia; miller; minister; minor; minstrels; miskenning; moat; Model Parliament; monarchy; monasteries; money; moneyer; monks; monopoly; moot; More, Thomas; morgen-gift; morning gift; mort d'ancestor; mortgage; mortmain; mother; murder; mutilation; Napier, John; navy; Newcastle- on-Tyne; New England; New Model Army; newspapers; Newton, Issac; New World; nobility; noblemen, nobles; nonconformists; Normans; novel disseisin; nuisance; nun; Oakham, William; oaths; offender; oil; one hundred year war; open field system; ordeal; ordinance; orphans; outlaw; Oxford University; oxygen; papists; parent; parishes; Parliament; Parliament of Saints; partition; party; Pascal, Blaise; passport; patents; pauper; pawn; Peasant's Revolt; peers; peine forte et dure; penalty; penitentiary; Penn, William; Pennsylvania; penny; per stirpes; perjury; personal injury; personal property; petit serjeanty; petition; Petition of Right; physicians; Piers Plowman; pigherds; pilgrim; pillory; pipe rolls; piracy; pirate; plague; plaintiff; Plato; plays; pleading; pleas; police; pontage; poor; pope; popery; population; port; portreeve; portsoken ward; posse; possess; postal system; post mortem; pottery; praecipe in capite; pressing; Presbyterians; prescription; presentment; priest; printing; prison; Privy Council; privy seal; probable cause; probate; proclamation; promise under seal; promissory note; property; prosecutor; prostitutes; protectorate; Protestants; Puritans; purveyance; putting out system; Quakers; quaranteen, quarter sessions; queen; Queen Elizabeth I; Queen Mary; Queen's Bench; quo warranto; rack; Ralegh, Walter; rape; Ray, John; real action; recognition; reeve; reformation; regrate; release; relief; religion; remainder; renaissance; rent; replevin; residence; Restoration; reversion; revolt; reward; rights; riot; riot act; roads; robbery; Robin Hood; Roman law; Root and Branch Petition; roundheads; royal court; Royal Navy; Royal Society; royalists; Rump Parliament; Russia; sacrament; sacrifice; sailor; sake and soke; sale; salt; saltworks; sanctuary; Sandwich; Saxon; scaetts; scavage; scholar; school; science; scolds; scot; scrofula; scutage; seal; seamen; searchers; search warrant; sedition, seditious; seisin; self- defense; self-help; Separatists; serf; serjeanty; servant; service; servitude; settlement; sewer; Shakespeare, William; shaving; sheep; Shelley's case; sheriff; sheriff's turn; shillings; ships; shipwreck; shire; shire courts; shire-gemot; shoemaker; Short Parliament; shrine; sickness; silver; Slade's case; slander; slave; slingshot; smallpox; smith; Smithfield; socage; sokemen; soldiers; solicitor; son; Spanish Armada; speedy pursuit; spinning; spinning jenny; spinning wheel; spinsters; spouse; St. Augustine; St. Germain; St. Lazarus; St. Paul's Church; statute of laborers; squire; staple; Star Chamber Court; strangers; steam; steel; stengesdint; steward; stock-and-land lease; stocking-frame knitters; stocks; stolen goods; stone; Stonehenge; straw; streets; subtenants; successor; sue; suit; summary; summon; Sunday; Supporters of the Bill of Rights Society; surety; surgery; surname; swearing; swords; tale; tallage; tanner; tavern; tax; tea; team; Ten Commandments; tenancies; tenancy, tenant; tenants in common; tenement; tenure; term; testament; Thames, River; theft; thegn; Theodore; theology; theow; thermometer; Thirty Years' War; tile; tiler; tin; title; tolls; tories; tort; torture; tournament; Tower Hill; Tower of London; town; town-reeve; trades, tradesmen; transportation; treason, high and petit; treasure trove; treasury; trespass; trespass on the case; trial by combat (battle); trover; turnpike; twelve; tyne; umbrella, Unitarians; university; usury; use-trust; vagrants, vagrancy; vassal; verderer; verdict; vessels; vikings; vill; villages; villeinage; villeins; vintner; Virginia; wall; Wallis, John; War of the Roses; ward, wardship; wardmoot; wardrobe; warrantor, warranty; waste; water; watermen; watermill; waterwheel; Watt, James; wealthy; weapon; weaving, weavers; webs; wed; wedding; weights; weir; well; wer, wergeld; Wesley, John; Westminster; whigs; whipping; White Tower; Whitsuntide; widows; wife; wife-beating; wills; Winchester; wind mills; window tax; wine; witch; witchcraft; wite; witen; witenagemot; witnesses; wives; Wolsey, Thomas; Wyclif, John; woman-covert; women; wool; wounding; writs; writs of assistance; writs of error; Year Books; yeomanry, yeomen
End of Project Gutenberg's Our Legal Heritage, 4th Ed., by S. A. Reilly