English Law: A Lighthearted Look at England"s Judicial System
Rules and regulations, and the customs and conventions from which they originated, have been a part of English life since people first started to live in settled communities. However, juries first came into existence in Norman Britain because of the Church. Trials were usually decided by ordeals in early medieval Europe, when God was believed to intervene and prove a persons innocence or guilt but, in 1215 the Catholic Church decreed that trial by ordeal was mere superstition and priests were forbidden to take part. As a direct result, a new method of trial was required and the jury system emerged.
The English author, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), well known for his detective stories featuring a Roman Catholic priest named Father Brown, was a great champion of traditional common sense. After serving as a juror once himself, he described the jury system thus:
Our civilisation has decided, and very justly decided, that determining the guilt or innocence of men is a thing too important to be trusted to trained men. It wishes for light upon that awful matter, it asks men who know no more law than I know, but who can feel the things that I felt in the jurybox.
Habeas Corpus, the law which in Britain, the USA and numerous other English-speaking countries guarantees that a person cannot be held in prison without a trial, was passed because of an unruly knees-up (party) in 1621. This unfortunate event took place in the London home of a notoriously rowdy lady named Alice Robinson, when a constable called to complain about the noise. Alice allegedly swore at him so violently that he arrested her - and a local Justice of the Peace immediately commited her to the Clerkenwell House of Correction. When she was finally brought to trial at the Old Bailey, Alice's account of her treatment in prison caused a national outcry. She said that she had been put on a punishment diet of black bread and water, made to sleep on the bare ground, stripped and given 50 lashes and, what's more, she was pregnant at the time. Public anger was so extreme that Alice was acquitted and the constable who arrested her without a warrant was sent to Newgate Prison (the JP was also severely reprimanded). In addition, her case, as well as several other similar cases, led directly to the passing of the Habeas Corpus Act in 1679.
English judges and lawyers have been wearing wigs for at least 300 years! The wigs were originally made from human hair but these days they are made from horsehair. Barristers also wear gowns in court. Junior barristers wear gowns woven from alpaca wool, while senior barristers, known as the Queen's Council, wear 'silks' because the fabric is made from silk. The gown of every barrister has a pouch sewn into the left shoulder - which is a reminder of the period when barristers were not allowed to solicit fees and soliciters would furtively slip golden guineas into the pouch.
Every year, without fail, the solicitor to the city of London attempts to cut a bundle of faggots with a blunt billhook, before finally slicing through with a sharp axe. The reason for this unusual ceremony, known as 'Quit Rent' dates from 1211 when the City Corporation rented a farm in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, from the Crown. The rent, which has remained unchanged for over 700 years, is the blunt billhook and sharp axe. After testing both implements, the solicitor hands them over to a Crown official called the Queen's Remembrancer and the city is 'quitted of' its rent for another twelve months.
The English author, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), well known for his detective stories featuring a Roman Catholic priest named Father Brown, was a great champion of traditional common sense. After serving as a juror once himself, he described the jury system thus:
Our civilisation has decided, and very justly decided, that determining the guilt or innocence of men is a thing too important to be trusted to trained men. It wishes for light upon that awful matter, it asks men who know no more law than I know, but who can feel the things that I felt in the jurybox.
Habeas Corpus, the law which in Britain, the USA and numerous other English-speaking countries guarantees that a person cannot be held in prison without a trial, was passed because of an unruly knees-up (party) in 1621. This unfortunate event took place in the London home of a notoriously rowdy lady named Alice Robinson, when a constable called to complain about the noise. Alice allegedly swore at him so violently that he arrested her - and a local Justice of the Peace immediately commited her to the Clerkenwell House of Correction. When she was finally brought to trial at the Old Bailey, Alice's account of her treatment in prison caused a national outcry. She said that she had been put on a punishment diet of black bread and water, made to sleep on the bare ground, stripped and given 50 lashes and, what's more, she was pregnant at the time. Public anger was so extreme that Alice was acquitted and the constable who arrested her without a warrant was sent to Newgate Prison (the JP was also severely reprimanded). In addition, her case, as well as several other similar cases, led directly to the passing of the Habeas Corpus Act in 1679.
English judges and lawyers have been wearing wigs for at least 300 years! The wigs were originally made from human hair but these days they are made from horsehair. Barristers also wear gowns in court. Junior barristers wear gowns woven from alpaca wool, while senior barristers, known as the Queen's Council, wear 'silks' because the fabric is made from silk. The gown of every barrister has a pouch sewn into the left shoulder - which is a reminder of the period when barristers were not allowed to solicit fees and soliciters would furtively slip golden guineas into the pouch.
Every year, without fail, the solicitor to the city of London attempts to cut a bundle of faggots with a blunt billhook, before finally slicing through with a sharp axe. The reason for this unusual ceremony, known as 'Quit Rent' dates from 1211 when the City Corporation rented a farm in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, from the Crown. The rent, which has remained unchanged for over 700 years, is the blunt billhook and sharp axe. After testing both implements, the solicitor hands them over to a Crown official called the Queen's Remembrancer and the city is 'quitted of' its rent for another twelve months.
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