Policy for the Masses - A legal history podcast: Recent Episodes
Laurence McCann
An analysis of some of the oldest laws in the UK, why were they made, what is their history and what can we learn.
So this is a somewhat unusual episode, I am not an expert but I have a few thoughts on why the King (Henry VIII) is trying to punish Welshmen. In the main I suggest that this law is more towards the supremacy of English law over Welsh law.
References
Violence and affray in Herefordshire during the early Tudor Period - Link
THE TWILIGHT OF WELSH LAW, 1284–1536 - Link
The Medieval 'Marches' of Normandy and Wales - Link
With special thanks to Purple Planet Music who provided me with the intro track - Passport
So your in court in England in 1362 and the lawyers aren't speaking English and you don't speak French. Why is this happening?
This law is seen by some as the supremacy of English over French in the nobility in England, that is not quite accurate but an interesting discussion none the less.
References
The Use of English: Language, Law, and Political Culture in Fourteenth-Century England - Link
The Rise of English, the Decline of French: Supplications to the English Crown, c. 1420- 1450 - Link
The Anglicisation of English Law - Link
With special thanks to Purple Planet Music who provided me with the intro track - Passport
So I finally got to the Sumptuary Laws, or at least the first 4.
Sumptuary Laws were pretty common in Europe and tended to enforce appearance or reduce overt spending. This is the first 4 in England which cover clothing that could be worn or imported in 1336 and 1337.
The Sumptuary Law 1336
The Cloth Act 1337
The Fur Act 1337
The Importation Act 1337
References
The "Extremities" of Sumptuary Law in Robert Greene's "Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay" - Link
Beyond Sumptuary: Constitutionalism, Clothes, and Bodies in Anglo-American Law, 1215-1789 - Link
The 1363 English Sumptuary Law: A comparison with Fabric Prices of the Late Fourteenth-Century - Link
With special thanks to Purple Planet Music who provided me with the intro track - Passport
The year is 1650, the King is dead so it is time for the Rump Parliament to ban swearing.
Due to the sheer detail of this law I cannot include the text here because there is too much, so I will include some of reading it out but not the whole law, because its got loads of detail.
Who would have thought banning swearing would take up so many words.
References
The Law - An Act for the better preventing of prophane Swearing and Cursing - 1650
AN ACT TO RESTRAIN ABUSES OF PLAYERS (1606)
The Moral Code of the English Civil War and Interregnum
With special thanks to Purple Planet Music who provided me with the intro track - Passport
What do you do when a terrorist cell nearly kills approximately 30,000 people in 1605?
Well if your James the 1st you pass a law to remember it annually of course.
References
The Law - Link
5/11: Revisiting the Gunpowder Plot - Link
Gunpowder, Treason, and Scots - Link
Guy Fawkes' Day - Link
Strategy and Motivation in the Gunpowder Plot - Link
With special thanks to Purple Planet Music who provided me with the intro track - Respawn
The year is 1651 and Charles the Second has just invaded England.
The Puritans fearing a royalist uprising pass this law.
Relevant Links
An Act prohibiting Correspondence with Charles Stuart or his Party - 1651 - Link
From Tyrant to Unfit Monarch - Link
Charles II, exile , and the problem of allegiance - Link
The Devotional Landscape of the Royalist Exile, 1649-1660 - Link
Special thanks to Purple Music, Now we are free - Link
So we have a new period to look at the laws of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell.
How did we get from 59% of the land in Ireland being owned by Catholics in 1641 to 22% in 1660. This ordinance is certainly one of the reasons.
Actual Text - Link
Planters and Policies in Cromwellian Ireland - Link
The Law of England During the Period Commonwealth - Link
THE ODIOUS DEMON FROM ACROSS THE SEA’. OLIVER CROMWELL, MEMORY AND THE DISLOCATIONS OF IRELAND - Link
OLIVER CROMWELL AND THE 'CROMWELLIAN' SETTLEMENT OF IRELAND - Link
Special thanks to Purple Planet for the intro and outro track which was Feelin Good - Link
The year is 1313 your Edward the second, your best friend (Piers Gaveston) has just been murdered by your barons in 1312 and the country is slipping towards civil war. So as a show of strength (I say sarcastically) you pass a law to stop people wearing armour and bringing arms to parliament and other assemblies.
Links
A Statute forbidding Bearing of Armour - Link
The Last English Civil War - Link
The Eccentricities of Edward II - Link
Edward II and Military Obligation - Link
Piers Gaveston and the Royal Treasure - Link
An Anglo-Norman Poem by Edward II, King of England - Link
Special thanks to Purple Planet for the intro and outro track which was An Angel will Rise - Link
When is Bigamy not Bigamy, when it is Canonical Bigamy.
The year is 1276 and Pope Gregory X has some ideas about how Canonical Bigamy should be treated in ecclesiastical court. Possibly the earliest example of a law from Europe being passed in England (if you exclude the whole Norman invasion and its aftermath).
Links
YES AND NO: LATE MEDIEVAL DISPENSATIONS FROM CANONICAL BIGAMY IN THEORY AND PRACTICE - Link
Special thanks to Purple Planet for the intro and outro track which was Sunbeam - Link
So let me put you in my situation, you have just researched and recorded an episode on the role of the Coroner in Medieval England without being able to find the primary source legislation. As you begin to research the next episode (the Statute of Bigamy) you then find the text of the Office of the Coroner. in both English and Latin from a book published in 1761.
What do you do, do you ignore this and continue or do you attempt a short episode on the Office of the Coroner, well the latter.
Special thanks to Purple Planet Music for the intro and outro track which was Running with the Horses, Link
The intention was a short episode, this was a failure. This is the first time I have not been able to find the actual legislation in question but just people's commentary on it. So buckle up and prepare for a discussion on the role of the Coroner in medieval England.
The Early History and Influence of the Office of Coroner - Link
The Medieval Coroners' Rolls - Link
The Medieval Coroner by R. F. Hunnisett - Link
Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster - Link
Petitioners: Commonalty of the county of Cumberland. Addressees: King Nature - Link
Articles of the EYRE - Link
The year is 1266, Henry the 3rd has the remnants of the rebellion of the Second Barons War surrounded in Kenilworth Castle. You would assume he crushes them without mercy, but does he?
The Dictum of Kenilworth - link
The Conet Project - link
Reasserting Medieval Kingship: King Henry III and the Dictum of Kenilworth - link
The Last English Civil War - link
King’s Men without the King: Royalist Castle Garrison Resistance between the Battles of Lewes and Evesham - link
The Introduction Transcript of the Dictum
In the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, amen. To the honour and glory of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of the glorious and most excellent Mother of God the Virgin Mary, and of all saints by whose merits and intercessions we are governed on Earth. To the honour of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church, which is the mother and ruler of all the faithful; to the honour of the Most Holy Father and out lord Clement, ruler of that universal Church; to the honour and good prosperous and peaceable estate of the most Christian prince, lord Henry, illustrious king of the whole realm of England, and of the English Church. We, Walter, bishop of Exeter, Walter, bishop of Bath and Wells, Nicholas, bishop of Worcester, and Richard, bishop of St David’s, Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, and Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, Philip Basset, John Balliol, Robert Walerand, Alan de la Zuche, Roger de Somery, and Warin de Bassingbourne have been given full power from the lord king, from other nobles, counsellors of the realm, and from the leading men of England according to the terms enrolled in letters published and sanctioned by the seals of the king and others, to provide for the state of the realm especially in the matter of the disinherited, favouring no person in this matter, but having God alone before our eyes, doing all things as in the sight of Almighty God and in order, rightly preferring the Head to the Members.
Do you really need a law to deal with the ambiguity over how a leap year is counted, well in 1256 they did. This episode is my most tangent filled yet, with more side bars than are usual in a 30 minute podcast.
This provision ( originally in Norman French) states:
The King unto his Justices of the Bench, Know Ye That where within our Realm it doubted of the Year and Day that were wont to be assigned unto sick persons being impleaded, and from what Day of the Year going before unto another Day of the Year following, the Year and Day in a Leap-Year ought to be taken and reckoned. We therefore, willing that a Conformity be observed in this behalf every where within our Realm, and avoid all Danger from such as be in Plea, have provided, and by the Counsel of our faithful Subjects have ordained, That, to take away from henceforth all Ambiguity that might arise hereupon, the Day increasing in the Leap-Year shall be accounted so that because of that Day none shall be prejudiced that is impleaded, but it shall be taken and reckoned of the same Month wherein it growth; and that Day and the Day next going before, shall be accounted for one Day. And therefore We do command you, that from henceforth you do cause this to be published afore you, and to be observed.
Witness Myself
Henry by the Grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland. Duke of Normandy, Guyan, and Earl of Anjou.
Links
The Music is once again from the Conet Project
Hathi Trust can be found at the following link
Give Us Our Eleven Days by Ben Johnson link
Medieval manuscripts blog - The Leaping Saint: 29th February in the Middle Ages link
The Statute of Merton is called the oldest Statute in England dating from 1235. There is a law documented before this, but it is not a statute so I suppose this is technically correct, (the best kind of correct).
Why was it passed, what was it's purpose and why did I not do this in order?
All will be revealed, well not all but some at least. Some will be revealed.
It was provided in the Court of our Lord the King, holden at Merton on Wednesday the morrow after the Feast of St. Vincent, the 20th Year of the Reign of King HENRY the Son of King JOHN, before William * Archbishop of Canterbury, and other his Bishops and Suffragans, and before the greater part of the Earls and Barons of England, there being assembled for the Coronation of the said King, and Hellianor the Queen, about which they were all called, where it was treated for the Commonwealth of the Realm upon the Articles underwritten, thus it was provided and granted, as well of the foresaid Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, and Barons, as of the King himself and others.
Special thanks to the Conet Project for the audio, a link to it can be found below.
Counting Control - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Conet_Project/
The Statute of Westminster of 1285 (13 Edw. I, St. 1), also known as the Statute of Westminster II, like the Statute of Westminster 1275, is a code in itself, and contains the famous clause De donis conditionalibus, one of the fundamental institutes of the medieval land law of England.
Why was it passed, what was it's purpose and what parts of it are still in force?
In this episode I basically utter the phrase "kids today" as a medieval Lord in relation to his children.
Whereas of late our Lord the King, in the Quinzim of Saint John Baptist, the Sixth Year of his Reign, calling together the Prelates, Earls,Barons, and his Council at Gloucester, and considering that divers of this Realm were disherited, by reason that in many Cases, where Remedy should have been had there was none provided by him nor his Predecessors, ordained certain Statutes right necessary and profitable for his Realm, whereby the People of England and Ireland, being Subjects unto his Power, have obtained more speedy Justice in their Oppressions, than they had before; and certain Cases, wherein the Law failed, did remain undetermined, and some remained to be enacted, that were for the Reformation of the Oppressions of the People: Our Lord the King in his Parliament, after the Feast of Easter, holden the Thirteenth Year of his Reign at Westminster, caused many Oppressions [of the People,] and Defaults of the Laws, for the Accomplishment of the said Statutes of Gloucester, to be rehearsed, and thereupon did provide certain Acts, as shall appear here following.
- The Statute of Westminster, the second - 1285
Special thanks to the Conet Project for the audio, a link to it can be found below.
The lincolnshire poacher mi5 - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Conet_Project/
Edward the 1st is just back from Crusade and he has laws to pass.
The Statute of Westminster dates from 1275.
Why was it passed, what was it's purpose and what parts of it are still in force?
These be the Acts of King Edward, Son to King Henry, made at Westminster at his first Parliament general after his Coronation, on the Monday of Easter Utas, the Third Year of his Reign, by his Council and by the assent of Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, and [all] the Commonalty of the Realm, being thither summoned: Because our Lord the King had great zeal and desire to redress the State of the Realm in such Things as required Amendment for the common profit of Holy Church, and of the Realm: And because the State of the Holy Church had been evil kept, and the Prelates and Religious Persons of the Land grieved many ways, and the People otherwise intreated than they ought to be, and the Peace less kept, and the Laws less used, and the Offenders less punished, than they ought to be, by reason whereof the People [of the Land] feared the less to offend; the King hath ordained and established these Acts underwritten, which he intendeth to be necessary and profitable unto the whole Realm.
- The Statute of Westminster, The First - 1275
I would like to credit the Conet Project for the weird intro music: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Conet_Project/
The Statute of Marlborough is one of the oldest law in England that has not been repealed, it dates from 1267.
Why was it passed, what was it's purpose and what parts of it are still in force?
In the Year of Grace, One thousand two hundred sixty-seven, the two-and-fiftieth Year of the Reign of King Henry, Son of King John, in the Utas of Saint Martin, the said King our Lord providing for the better Estate of his Realm of England, and for the more speedy Ministration of Justice, as belongeth to the Office of a King, the more discreet Men of the Realm being called together, as well of the higher as of the lower Estate: It was Provided, agreed, and ordained, that whereas the Realm of England of late had been disquieted with manifold Troubles and Dissensions; for Reformation whereof Statutes and Laws be right necessary, whereby the Peace and Tranquillity of the People must be observed; wherein the King, intending to devise convenient Remedy, hath made these Acts, Ordinances, and Statutes underwritten, which he willeth to be observed for ever firmly and inviolably of all his Subjects, as well high as low.
- Statute of Marlborough 1267 [Waste]
- The Statute of Marlborough 1267 [Distress]
I would like to credit Purple Planet Music - Future Worlds for the introduction and exit music - Link.