Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775

Later, coal measurers must give the coal cart driver a ticket with the name of the sellers and consumers, the quantity and quality of the coal, its price, the date of sale, and the name of the cart driver or else forfeit 5 pounds. The cart driver must give this ticket to the consumer or forfeit 5 pounds. If coal is carried by cart without a ticket, the seller forfeits 50 pounds and the driver 5 pounds.

Anyone who willfully and maliciously set on fire any mine or pit of coal is guilty of felony and shall suffer death without benefit of clergy. Anyone who willfully and maliciously floods a coal work, mine pit or who makes underground cavities or passages with intent to destroy or damage such, or obstructs any sough or sewer made for draining such, which has been held in common for 50 years, shall forfeit treble damages. This is to deter these offenses, which have been done to enhance the price of coals and gain a monopoly thereof.

If twelve or more people who riotously and tumultuously assemble and disturb the peace, do not disburse within an hour of an order to disburse by a justice or sheriff or mayor, they shall be deemed felons without benefit of clergy. Any people pulling down or destroying a church, dwelling house, barn, stable, or other out house; any mill; any engine used for draining water from any coal, lead, tin, or copper mines, or for drawing coals from mines; or bridge, wagon, or fences used in such industry will be deemed felons without benefit of clergy and may be transported for seven years. The cost of repair is to be borne by the hundred or town.

Any owner of timber trees, fruit trees, and other trees used for shelter, ornament, or profit, which are cut down or otherwise destroyed shall be made good by his parish or town, as is an owner of hedges and dikes overthrown by persons in the night. In 1765, anyone cutting down or destroying any oak or other timber trees at night shall forfeit up to 20 pounds for the first offense, up to 30 pounds for the second offense, and shall be transported to the colonies for seven years for any further offense. Anyone digging up or destroying or carrying away any root, shrub, or plant worth up to 5s. in a garden, nursery, or other enclosed ground at night shall forfeit up to 2 pounds for the first offense, up to 5 pounds for the second offense, and shall be transported to the colonies for seven years for any further offense. Anyone not paying is to be gaoled. Aiders and buyers who know the item was stolen shall incur the same penalties. Later, many other types of trees, such as beach, ash, elm, cedar, and walnut were included as timber trees, and hollies, thorns, and quicksets included as plants.

The previous statute that substituted burning in the cheek for burning in the hand is repealed because this not only did not deter offenders, but on the contrary, made them unfit for honest livelihoods and therefore more desperate. Those convicted of theft or larceny shall be burnt in the hand and may be kept at hard labor in a House of Correction for 2-24 months, without bail.

Any person using violence to hinder the purchase or transportation of grain, e.g. by beating or wounding a buyer; beating or wounding the driver or horse of a cart loaded with wheat, flour, meal, malt, or other grain, or cutting the harness of or driving away the horse, or cutting or carrying away the sacks of grain is to be put in the common gaol or House of Correction with hard labor for 1-3 months, and whipped in the market place between 11:00 and 2:00. The penalty for a second offense or for destroying a storehouse or granary where grain is kept to be exported or for taking or spoiling such grain, or for throwing such off a ship or vessel is transportation for seven years. The hundreds concerned are to pay damages up to a total of 100 pounds, but only if notice is given to the constable within two days and there is an oath and examination before a Justice of the Peace within ten days of the owner or his servants. If any offender is convicted within a year, the hundreds are released.

Anyone who steals at night any cloth or wool or woolen goods set out to dry on racks shall forfeit treble damages, or if he can't pay, be sent to prison for three months without bail. For the second offense, he shall forfeit treble damages and be sent to prison for six months without bail. For the third offense, he shall be transported for seven years. Upon complaint, a Justice of the Peace may authorize a constable or other peace officer to enter and search houses, outhouses, yards, and gardens of a person suspected by the owner. This person shall account to the Justice of the Peace and may bring a witness to his purchase of the items. If the account is unsatisfactory, he shall be penalized.

Anyone taking linens, fustians, or cottons set out for whitening, bleaching, or printing up to the value of 10s. in lands, grounds, or buildings may be transported for seven years. Later, this penalty was increased to death without benefit of clergy or transportation for fourteen years.

Anyone stealing or maliciously pulling up or destroying any turnips on a person's land must pay damages or go to gaol for up to one month. He may be whipped. The penalty for a second offense is three months in a House of Correction. This statute of 1750 was, in 1773, extended to include potatoes, cabbages, parsnips, peas, and carrots. A penalty up to 10s. was added. Evidence of the owner was to be taken.

In 1769, anyone who steals a dog or receives such knowing it to be stolen shall forfeit 20-30 pounds for the first offense, and 30-50 pounds for the second offense or go to gaol or the House of Correction for 12-18 months and be publicly whipped there. Search warrants may be issued to search for stolen dogs or their skins. One-half of the forfeiture will go to the informer.

In 1712 was the last execution for witchcraft. By statute of 1736, witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, and conjuration were abolished as crimes. Persons pretending witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration; or telling fortunes; or pretending by occult knowledge to discover the location of stolen goods may be imprisoned for one year without bail and put in the pillory in the market place once in every quarter of such year.

Anyone stealing goods off shipwrecks, or putting out a false light to bring a ship to danger, or beating or wounding with an intent to kill or otherwise obstructing a person escaping from the ship to save his life shall suffer death without benefit of clergy. Except that good of small value taken without violence shall be punished as petit larceny. The houses of suspect people may be searched by warrant. If there are goods found or if people are found offering goods to sell, they may be ordered by a justice to give an account of these goods. If the account is not satisfactory, the punishment is forfeiture of treble their value or six months in prison. A reasonable reward may be given to the discoverer. Anyone assaulting a magistrate or officer involved in salvage work shall be transported for seven years.

Officers of the revenue who collude with importers to return to them goods which have been seized for nonpayment of duties shall forfeit 500 pounds and lose office, unless they disclose their accomplices within two months. The importer shall forfeit treble the value of such goods.

Armed persons up to three in number assembled to assist in illegal exporting or running, landing, or carrying away prohibited or uncustomed goods, and any person apprehended by any revenue officer, and anyone with his face blackened or masked who obstructs, assaults, opposes, or resists any revenue officer seizing such goods, or who shoots at or maims or wounds any revenue officer attempting to go on any ship shall suffer death as felons without benefit of clergy or serve as commons sailors in the navy for at least one year. Harborers of such offenders will be transported for seven years. The hundreds shall pay 100 pounds for each revenue officer killed, and up to 40 pounds for each one beaten, wounded, or maimed, and damages up to 200 pounds for goods, unless an offender is caught and convicted in six months. There is a reward of 500 pounds to an apprehender, and 50 pounds for an attempt to apprehend in which one loses a limb or eye or is maimed or wounded, and 100 pounds to his family if he is killed. An offender who brings two of his accomplices to justice will be acquitted and rewarded 50 pounds for each such accomplice. Later, an incentive was given to customs officers to have a portion of the proceeds of the sale of such goods seized by them, such as 2/3 for wrought silks and calicoes, and 1/3 for tea, coffee, foreign brandy, and rum. Still later, any person could seize wrought silk, including ribbons, laces, and girdles containing it, from the importer or retailer, and the importer was to forfeit 100 pounds, and any import assistants 50 pounds, and retailers or concealers 50 pounds, with one half going to the suer. Also, the goods were to be publicly burnt. Still later, the penalty was increased to forfeiture of 200 pounds for all offenders, but not including wearers, and the goods were to be publicly sold for export rather than burnt. Then the import of silk stockings, silk mitts, and silk gloves was prohibited for the support of the English silk industry. Retailers, sellers, and concealers of such were to forfeit the goods and 200 pounds. Search warrants could be issued. In 1765, importers, sellers, and manufacturing users of most foreign wrought silks or velvets were to forfeit the goods and 100 pounds. The goods were sold for export with the proceeds going 1/2 to the king, and 1/2 to the seizing officer. The wearer was not liable. The burden of proof of the place of manufacture was on the person prosecuted rather than on the prosecutor. Persons breaking into houses or shops to destroy any wool or silk being made or tools or racks used shall suffer death as felons, to prevent combinations of workmen. In 1768, bounties were made available to American exporters of raw silk to Great Britain, whose climate was not conducive to the growing of mulberry trees on which silk worms feed. In 1774, cotton printed, stained, or dyed that has been manufactured in Great Britain may be worn and used, but must have a mark woven in the warp that it was manufactured in Great Britain. Persons importing other such cloth shall forfeit it and ten pounds per piece. Persons selling such with a counterfeit stamp with an intent to defraud shall suffer death without benefit of clergy. The protective measures for English silk manufacture did not work well.

Any ship not more than 50 tons hovering on the coast with customable or prohibited goods may be boarded by a customs officer, who may demand bond for treble the value of the goods.

In 1724, persons contracting with artificers and manufacturers of wool, iron, steel, brass, and other metals, clockmakers, or watchmakers, to go to a foreign country and there receive greater wages and advantages shall forfeit 100 pounds and spend 3 months in prison for the first offense, and shall forfeit a sum determined by the court and spend 12 months in prison for the second offense. An artificer or manufacturer not returning after warning is given by the ambassador is to forfeit hereditaments, goods, and lands and to be deemed an alien. Later, in 1750, cotton and silk were included and the penalty was increased to 500 pounds and 12 months in gaol for the first offense, and 1000 pounds and 2 years in prison for the second offense. Also, anyone exporting tools of wool or silk manufacture was to forfeit the tools and 200 pounds. This statute was strictly enforced. In 1774, tools of cotton and linen manufacture were included.

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 due to negligence of the prison keeper, 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.

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 else forfeit 100 pounds. Later, pine trees on private property were exempted.

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 else 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 impartial 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, such as interrogatories [written questions]. Court officials asked the questions of 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 issued orders in matters of public safety, public order, public morals, health, the poor, highways, water, fields, forests, fisheries, trade, building, fire, begging, and vagrancy. They examined suspicious persons and issued warrants for the removal of any person likely to become a public charge. The Justice of the Peace also regulated 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 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 individual Justices of the Peace instead of common law courts hearing them by writ of certiorari. The writ of certiorari allowed 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. Instead, 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 hygienic 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.

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 publicly 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 offenses 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