| OCR Text |
Show 14 INTRODUCTION. ecclesiastical courts in the United States of America, has left deep traces upon our law and i t. admini tration as to these subject . In establishing these separate eccle ia tical courts, the Conqueror made a serious departure from his leading idea of centralization; and he thereby greatly contributed to build up a distinct theocratic power, which afterwards, while intrenching on the rights of the laity intrenched also very seriously 011 the authority of his SUCCe SOl'S on the throne. But this was a danger which either he did not foresee - ince he possessed, though his next ucces:'or relinqui hed it the sole power of appointing Li hops- or which he overlooked in his anxiety to diminish the importance of the old Saxon tribunals. Both the civil and crin1inal authority of the local courts was greatly curtailed. Their juri diction in crin1inal ca es was restricted to small matters, and even as to que._ tions of property was li1nited to cases in which the amount in di, putc diu not exceed forty shillings ; though, con idering the superior weight of the shilling at that time, the greater comparative value in tho e ages of the preciou. 1netal"', and the poverty of the country, this was still a con."' idernble . u1n. The general plan for the adrnini. trntion of ju ticc of the Anglo-Norman government was a court baron in each of the baronies into which the kingdom was now parcelled out, to d ec1.d e sue1 . 1 con trover. 1es as arose betw en the seYer al va ~sals or subjects of the arne barony. llunclrcd court and county courts till continued from the axon time., thoucrh with re- • 0 stncted authori ty, to judge between the , ubject of different b~ronies ; and a court composed of the king's great officers to give sentence among the barons themselves. Of this court, INTRODUCTION. 15 which ulLin1ately became known as Ou1·ia R egis, (King's Court,) and ~ometi1ues as Aula llegis, (ICing's I lall,) becau e it wa held in the hall of the k ing's palace, and of it in trumcntality in extenuing the royal authority, I lun1e * give the following account : " The king him ~elf often at in his court, which always attended his per~ on : he there heard can es and pronounced j udgment; and thou,o·h he wa"' a:-si ted by the advice of the other 1nmnLers, it is not to be i1nagined that a decision coulJ easily be obtained contrary to his inclination or opinion. t In the king's absence, the chief ju -ticiary pr esided, who was the first n1agi ·trate of the tate, and a kind of viceroy, on whom depended all the civil affairs of the kingu01n. t T he other chief oflicer, of the crown, the constable, nlal"hal, seneschal, or steward, chamberlain, trea ' urer, and chancellor, were members, together with uch feudal barons as thought proper to attend, nncl the barons of the exchequer, who at first were aho feudal barons appointed by the king. Thi" court, which wa on1eti1nes calleJ the ICing's Court, ·o1neti1nes the Court of Exchequer, judged in all ·* History of Englancl, Appendix, II. t \Ve may observe that even at present, whether in England or America, though the depositaries of the legislative nnd executive authority (which in those times the king was) sit no longer openly and personally on the bench, it still remains no e<lS)' matter, in cases in which they take an interest, to ohta.in in either country a judicial decision contrary to the inclination of these two authorities. :t In the king 's absence- and the Anglo-Norman kings were often o.bseut on visits to their continental dominions- this chief justiciary acted in all re pects a' the king's substitute, no lc. s in military than in ciYil afrairs, those who held it being selected quite as much for v.;arlike prowess as for j uclicial skill. Such was the case with Ranulphus de Gram·ille, chief justiciary of H enry II. , A. D. 11 '0- 1191, whose treatise in Latin, On the Laws ancl Customs qf the J{ingdom of England, is the oldest book of the common law. He went with Richard I. on the third crusade, n.nd was killed at the siege of Acre. |
