HENRY II. 1154-1189. State of the country. Evil consequences from the clergy from the laity. CHAPTER III. THE HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET. A.D. 1154-1399. HENRY II-RICHARD I.-JOHN.-HENRY III.-EDWARD I.-EDWARD IL- SECTION I. HENRY II., Oct. 25, A.D. 1154,—July 6, A.D. 1189. 1. Constitutions of Clarendon. 2. Administration of Justice. 1. Constitutions of Clarendon. DURING this reign, England recovered from the effects of the Norman invasion, and its civil wars in the reign of Stephen; commerce increased, "councils were assembled as in previous reigns, the general administration of the government improved, the people became more obedient to law, and the whole of the lower orders, and particularly the inhabitants of cities and boroughs, increased in wealth and importance: these circumstances had a tendency to create alterations in the existing constitution. The reign of Henry II. was marked by the evil conseseparation of the quences produced by the separation of the clergy from the laity, as members of the same commonwealth. The lay and ecclesiastical jurisdictions were, at this period, completely separated; and the clergy being enabled to assume powers and exemptions utterly inconsistent with the good government of the country, having emancipated themselves from the laws as administered by lay jurisdictions'. But the clergy as a body, under the guise of religion, mixed in all the temporal contests between the sovereign and the people 2. 1 Fitz-Stephen, 27. 2 Lingard, 59, 60. Diceto, 537. Stephan. 32. Quadril, c. 7. 1 Hume, 382. 2 Every unprejudiced individual must, however, concur in opinion with Guizot, that, humanly speaking, Christianity could not have maintained itself against the inroad of pagan barbarians merely by its intrinsic merits, and by the energy of individual convictions. But its interests were under the care of a body of men who were the most cultivated of the age, and who alone, in the general dissolution of all things round them, remained compactly knit together, powerfully organized for a common object. The influence which this body acquired over the barbarian invaders, and which 1154-1189. Suits respecting and presentation the advowson of churches to be determined in Criminal process against clerks. Such a state of things was productive of the "Constitutions HENRY II. of Clarendon," by which it was enacted, that all suits concerning the advowson and presentation of churches should be determined in the civil courts: that the churches belonging to the king's fee should not be granted in perpetuity without his consent that clerks accused of any crime should be tried the civil courts. in the civil courts: that no person, particularly no clergyman, of any rank, should depart the kingdom without the king's licence that excommunicated persons should not be bound to give security for continuing in their present place of abode : that laics should not be accused in spiritual courts, except by legal and reputable promoters and witnesses: that no chief tenant of the crown should be excommunicated, nor his lands be put under an interdict, except with the king's consent. ritual causes. That all appeals in spiritual causes should be carried from Appeals in spithe archdeacon to the bishop, from the bishop to the primate, from him to the king; and should be carried no farther without the king's consent: that if any lawsuit arose between a layman and a clergyman concerning a tenant, and it be disputed whether the land be a lay or ecclesiastical fee, it should first be determined by the verdict of twelve lawful men to what class it belonged; and if it be found to be a lay fee, the cause shall be finally determined in the civil courts. tion of inhabi That no inhabitant in demesne should be excommunicated Excommunicafor non-appearance in a spiritual court, till the chief officer of tants in demesne. the place where he resides be consulted, that he may compel him by the civil authority to give satisfaction to the church. That the archbishops, bishops, and other spiritual dignitaries, should be regarded as barons of the realm; should possess the privileges, and be subjected to the burdens belonging to that rank; and should be bound to attend the king in was so early manifested in their outward conversion to Christianity, introduced among them the belief in an authority superior to that of the sword, and in a law binding on the conscience, even in the absence of any temporal sanction. The power of the church,-a power exerted through men's conviction, and by their voluntary concurrence,-was for ages the only counterpoise to the mere law of the strongest. 3 These Constitutions have only been preserved by the relation of historians, and by a copy in the British Museum, (Cotton MS. Claud. B. fol. 26,) and the different copies do not correspond. According to the copy printed by Lord Lyttleton, they are in the form of a declaration and recognition, in the presence of the king, of a certain part of the customs and liberties and dignities of his predecessors; viz., of King Henry his grandfather, and others, which ought to be observed and held in the kingdom. The prelates to be regarded as barons of the realm. HENRY II. his great councils, and assist at all trials, till the sentence, 1154-1189. either of death, or loss of members, be given against the Revenues of vacant sees to belong to the crown. Bishop-elect to do homage to the king. Non-exemption of the clergy from civil contracts. Appointment of justices in eyre. criminal. That the revenue of vacant sees should belong to the king; the chapter, or such of them as he pleases to summon, should sit in the king's chapel till they made the new election with his consent, and that the bishop-elect should do homage to the crown. That if any baron or tenant in capite should refuse to submit to the spiritual courts, the king should employ his authority in obliging him to make such submissions; if any of them throw off his allegiance to the king, the prelates should assist the king with their censures in reducing him. That goods forfeited to the king should not be protected in churches or churchyards: that the clergy should no longer pretend to the right of enforcing payment of debts contracted by oath or promise; but should leave these lawsuits, equally with others, to the determination of the civil courts: and that the sons of villains should not be ordained clerks without the consent of their lords ". 2. Administration of Justice. Hitherto all causes were usually terminated in the county courts, according to the Saxon laws; or before the king's justiciaries in the "Aula Regis," in pursuance of the Norman regulations. The judgments of the former tribunal had become equally ignorant and partial; the latter, travelling with the king's person, its judgments were expensive and dilatory: to rectify such abuses, the king, at an assemblage of his council, divided the kingdom into six circuits, which nearly coincide with those of the present day'; instituted the office of justices in eyre, in itinere; and commissioned these justices to administer justice, and try writs of assize in the several counties. The motive which influenced Henry was not an abstract sense of justice, but to increase his revenues; 42 Spel. Conc. 63. Gervase, 1386, 1387. Wilkins, 321. M. Paris, 70, 71. Hist. Quadr. 163. 1 Hume, 393, 394. 2 Lingard, 63, 64. The chief difference lies in the Home Circuit, which formerly comprised Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire, but has now lost the latter three, and received in their place Hertford and Essex, originally belonging to the Norfolk Circuit. Hoveden, 313. 1 Bened. Abb. 136. Diceto, 588. 1154-1189. and the judges, always guided by precedent and authority, HENRY II. increased their revenues, with the exception of Glanville, by the receipt of all monies which were offered them to influence their judgments. the judges. The instructions to the judges were as follows:-They Instructions to were authorised and directed to look after the king's interest to the best of their power; to hold pleas of the crown, provided the value did not exceed half a knight's fee; to try malefactors of all descriptions; to receive the oath of fealty to the king from the earls, barons, knights, freemen, and villains; to inquire what wards were, or ought to be, in the guardianship of the king, their sex and quality, the present possessors, and the value of their estates; what females were, or ought to be, in the guardianship of the king, their sex and quality, the present possessors, and the value of their estates; what females were, or ought to be, at the disposal of the crown, whether they were married or not, and if married, to whom, by whose permission, and what was the rental of their property. What churches were in the gift of the crown, their situation and annual value, who were the incumbents, and by whom they were presented; what lands had lapsed to the crown, who held them, what was their value, what their tenure; what encroachments had been made on the royal forests or demesnes; who had violated the statutes respecting weights and measures; what sheriffs and bailiffs had received fines of defaulters; what had become either of the chattels of Christian, or of chattels, pledges, debts, and deeds, of Jewish, usurers after their death; and lastly, to inquire into the state of the coinage, the clipping of the coin, the exchange; burglaries, outlawries, the removal of markets without licence, the introduction of new customs, and the taking of bribes to exempt tenants from provisioning the royal castles3. To this reign must also be ascribed the introduction and establishment of the grand assize, or trial by special kind of jury in a writ of right, at the option of the tenant or defendant, instead of the barbarous and Norman trial by battel"; and the introduction of escuage, or pecuniary commutation for 2 Diceto, 606. Hoveden, 337. 2 Lingard, 137. 3 Hoveden, 314. Bracton, iii. tr. ii. c. i. 2 Lingard, 135. 1 Hume, * 4 Black. Com. 422. 1 Hume, 449, 450. 2 Lingard, 143. 393. HENRY II. 1154-1189. personal military service; which, in process of time, was the parent of the ancient subsidies granted to the crown by parliament, and the land-tax of later times'. RICHARD I. 1189-1199. Oppression by the king. Forest laws. Uniformity of weights and measures. Law of wrecks mitigated. Assemblage of councils. Personal property of small value. SECTION II. RICHARD I., July 6, A.D. 1189,-April 6, A.D. 1199. From the relation of historians, the reign of Richard I. was very oppressive. The king spent the greater part of his reign between France, the Holy Land, on his voyages, or in captivity; and the promises made by John to obtain the throne, indicate that the government had been tyrannical. The forest laws were renewed, and enforced with severity, but the nation received two beneficial legislative charters'; by one a uniformity of weights and measures were established, by the other the severity of the law of wrecks was mitigated. Formerly it had been held, that, by the loss of the vessel, the original owner lost all right to his goods, which then became the property of the crown. Henry I. had granted that, if any man escaped alive, it should be considered no wreck. Henry II. added that, if even a beast escaped by which the owner might be discovered, he should be allowed three months to claim his property. Richard now enacted that, if the owner perished, his sons and daughters, and in their default his brothers and sisters, should have a fair claim in preference to the crown. "Councils were assembled as heretofore; but it is almost impossible for any representative body to have existed analogous to that which occurred in the reign of Edward I.,neither the state of property, nor the state of the people, admitted of such a constitution. Personal property was then comparatively of small value; the waste produced by the advent of William in cities and boroughs, and in the country at large, is apparent from Domesday. On the borders of Scotland and Wales the people were constantly liable to incursions of predatory hordes, were almost always in a state of war, with difficulty supported themselves against their invaders and immediate neighbours; 4 Black. Com. 422. 1 Hume, 469. 1 Hoveden, 774. M. Paris, 109, 134. Ann. Waverl. 165. 2 Hume, 36. 2 Leg. Sax. 342, 349. 2 Lingard, 205. |