Lecture 1.
Political system of the UK today.
The UK and Northern Ireland
Great Britain (no article)
England (no article)
the Queen
Parliament: unicameral; bicameral. Parliament – without article.
1. Legislative branch – led by parliament, bicameral, but the Crown is also formally part of parliament, so there are three parts:
1) House of Lords. Its members are called peers: hereditary peer (наследственные) and life peer – it’s a personal right that cannot be given (passed) to their children. parliament – 1) unicameral 2) bicameral;
2) House of Commons. Its members are called members of parliament (MPs). Elected every 5 years. Three major parties: conservative party, labour party, liberal-democratic party. House of Commons is more important; may check the laws enacted by the Government;
2. Executive branch. The head of the executive branch is the Prime Minister who is the leader of the party that has won the elections. PM is elected every 5 years as well as MPs. The main executive body is the Cabinet of Ministers. Before 1970s the Queen personally chose the Prime Minister. Every minister and Prime Minister are the MPs. Members of the executive are taken from the leading party – the legislative and executive branches are merged (сливаются).
3. Judicial branch. Main court in the country is the Supreme Court. This young Court was established in 2009. Until 2009 it was connected with legislative branch.
The main function of this branch was resolving disputes, judicial branch not only interpret law but make it by precedents. Case law is not a synonym of common law. Case law – present-day term; common law – historic term. The Act of Settlement
Separated Uncodified constitution:
1) Magna Carta (the Great Charter of freedoms);
2) Habeas Corpus Act;
3) The Bill of Rights.
The principle of separation of powers is not observed – it is the main problem of the UK.
If you are hereditary peer it means that you have inherited your title and your right to sit in the House of Lords and you can pass it on to your children. There is a very relatively small number of hereditary peers in the House of Lords now. Life peers are those people who are pointed to the House of Lords maybe, for example, a very outstanding MP or lawyer, maybe actor sometimes. The queen under the advise of the prime-minister may appoint MP role and give them the title and the right to sit in the House of Lords but they will only have this role during their lifetime, this means that they will not be able to pass this title and the right to sit in parliament to their children. The prime-minister works closely with the House of Commons because he is usually the leader of the majority party (the party that has won the recent general election) and he needs the support from his party. Probably the main function of the parliament is to legislate and here the House of Commons is more important, it has more legislative authority than the Hose of Lords.
Parliament can also change the existing rules and check the work of the government, mainly the financial decisions taken by the government. If we talk about the Executive branch of Government than we have to remember about the prime-minister and the Cabinet (the key ministers in the Government). What is so special about the Executive branch in the UK is that members of the Executive branch are always selected from the House of Commons which brings us to the very important idea that the Legislative and the Executive branch are merged not only separated. The government is always countable to parliament, checked by parliament and parliament can even dismiss the government in certain circumstances and call for a new general election. The judicial power until recently was also merged with the Legislative branch, however in 2009 the Supreme Court was established and with that the judicial branch of government was completely separated from the rest of branches in the UK. The main function of this branch is to resolve disputes that concern various areas. But (this is very special for the UK) the judiciary has one more important function - not just interpreting the law but making it. Judge made law that is very typical to the UK - case law. The term ‘case law’ is used with the term ‘common law’ BUT the term ‘common law’ mainly refers to history and ‘case law’ reflects the present-day situation. Case law is the legal system when certain interpretations and decisions of Senior Courts become precedents, meaning that all lower costs in the future cases (if the case is similar) should take the same decision. And due to this very important function hedges in the UK are extremely independent of any political influence.
Magistrates' Court (Justices of Peace) – part-time job, these judges may not be lawyers (Sentence for up to 6 months of prison), deals with minor criminal offences (petty crimes) + matrimonial proceedings
If a case is criminal and more serious, you should go to the Crown Court.
If it is a civil case, but it involves more serious thing such as corruption – to County Court ( deals with the majority of civil litigations).
High Court has three divisions (formed due to influence of medieval courts):
1) Family division – is a divisional court that concerns appeals from the magistrates' court.
2) Queen's bench – deals with contract and tort law. Includes Administrative court that has supervisory and appellate [ep e lit] jurisdiction overseeing the legality of decisions and actions of inferior courts, tribunals and local authorities.
3) Chancery Division – deals with trusts, taxes and bancruptcy – appeals from County Courts on bancruptcy and land
Tribunal – hears appeals from decisions about immigration, child support, pension and taxes. Quick trial, for example about taxes. Tribunal is about fast court.
Two instances of Appeal:
Criminal Division – Appeals from the Crown Court
Civil Division – Appeals from High Court and tribunals
After court of Appeal – to the Supreme Court that has a significant public influence, its decisions forms precedents.
European Court of Justice
European Court of Human Rights
(not clearly included because of Brexit)
This scheme of courts refers to England and Wales; Scotland's system differs
If you want to bring the case you should always start at the lowest (primary) level of court system and very often you would just go to Magistrates’ Courts (мировые суды). People working there as judges are usually not lawyers, they do this as part-time job and they are not paid for it. These people are called ‘JPs’ - justices of the peace. The office of JPs has been formed through many centuries. Magistrates usually deal with minor offences, for example, when you have to pay your fine for what you have done. The maximum you can get here is 6 months in prison. Also, if you need a license, for example, to open a bar you will go to Magistrates’ Court. If your case is criminal and a bit more serious than something requiring a fine then it needs to go to the Crown Court which is a bit higher and the Crown Court has a lot of branches all over England and Wales. If your case is not a criminal one (if it is a civil case) but it involves more serious situations like bankruptcy or divorce then you will have to apply to County Court. It's one more primary level of the Court System. Tribunals - for example, if you are in dispute with the government (let's say over taxes) and you want a quick trial then the Tribunal is your choice. Those disputes that involve large sums of money usually start at the High Court. High Court has 3 divisions. Depending on what case it deals with it will either go to Family Division, Queen’s Bench Division or the Chancery Division. High Court has been formed through the influence of old English Medieval (средневековый) Court.
If you’re not quite happy with decisions in these courts there are the 2 instances of appeal - the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal has 2 divisions depending on whether it’s a criminal case or a civil case we are talking about (Criminal Division and Civil Division). The Supreme Court is very special because it only hears cases that trace a general point of law and that has very significant public influence or injures. The decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal are extremely important because these are mainly first decisions that form precedents and other ways for new interpretations of law. Certain cases may also refer to the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights although now with Brexit we don’t know for sure if it's going to function the same way. (this represents the situation in England and Wales; Scotland is very special).
Scheme from HSE textbook:
Law in the UK
– Common law (judges). Case-law is present-day term
– Statute law (parliament and the Government – delegated legislation I mean)
– law of equity (separate type of law). Equity is a whole different type of law
It's about principles of fairness.
Lecture 1. William the Conqueror. (Почти полностью состоит из лекции Анжелы Сулеймановой, которую она перепечатала по аудио)
Plan:
1. Before 1066:
a. the Saxons;
b. the Vikings and the problem of succession
2. The Conquest
3. Feudalism and the Domesday's Book
4. Church and state relations
5. Legal and administrative system
By 4th century AD the Britain could be described as rather wealthy territory populated mainly by the Celts and as the territory with a very good mild (мягкий) climate. What is also important, this territory was quite peaceful when centuries could go by without a war. At some point there was someone who have got attracted to such a territory and these were mainly Germanic tribes. They were willing to get control of this land and that's why they started raiding Britany.
The Anglo-Saxons managed to established in several parts of the country.
Sussex – West Saxes
Essex – east Saxes
Anglo-saxons eventually managed to establish a number of kingdoms. Names of these kingdoms (some of them) survived up till the present moment. Now these are names of Counties or Shires (for example, Essex - former kingdom of East Saxons, Sussex - South Saxons, Wessex - West Saxons).
By the middle of the 7th century there were 3 largest kingdoms that had most power - Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex. The Saxons in their kingdoms managed to create some institutions that survived for about 500 years and what is more these institutions kept England strong politically. One of these institutions was the Kings’ Council (at that time it was called the Witan).
The Witan grew out of informal group of senior worries and churchmen. The king would often turn to this people for advice or support on some difficult matters.
By the 10th century the Witan was already a formal body that could even issue laws and charters. It was not a total democratic because the king could always choose to ignore the advice of the Witan, however most of the Anglo-Saxon kings realized that it was a dangerous thing to do. The Witan’s authority was based on its right to choose the king. At that time the succession to the throne was not automatic so you could not pass on the throne automatically to your eldest son. That's why without the support of the Witan the kings’ authority, his chances for a peaceful succession were in danger. The Witan established part of a system that is still important today because even today the Queen has a privy [privi] council - a group of advisers on matters of the state.
The Saxons also divided the land into new administrative areas - Shires. The fascinating thing about the Shires is that present day administrative division in England is almost the same to first Shires that were established.
Sheriffs initially were local administrators of the king. Apart from that each shire usually had a manor (усадьба, поместье) - a large house. This was an important administrative building because people came there to pay taxes, to join the army etc. There was also the lord of the manor - a person who was responsible for house function. And this was the beginning of the manorial system in England which was fully developed when the normans conquered the territory.
Firstly, manor lords were simply local officials (чиновники) but then at the beginning of the 11 century they were mainly war lords - kind of military officers - and very soon they started to be called by a danish word - earl (граф). Initially earls were warlords. A class system of England at that time:
1. King
2. His lords (including earls)
3. Soldiers
4. Workers on the land
5. The men of learning - special group - people coming from the christian church (primary source of education).
Sax and kings helped the church to grow in England because church increased the power of monarchs. Kings had, as they said, gods approval, which was very important because the succession to the throne was an uncertain business. That's why some kings chose to be crowned in a church - to make their power look more legitimate. But there were other ways in which English church increased the power of English state. For example, the fact that it established a lot of monasteries (minsters) all over the country. Some of them became centers of education. These were places from which literate people came out, people who could read and write. These people were later used by the king for state, legal matters.
The Saxons also made a lot of laws but these laws varied quite a lot from shire to shire, were very local specific.
Towards the end of the 8 century new raiders appeared. Now there were Anglo-Saxons who were being raided by people from the north - the Vikings. They burned churches, raided the shores, robbed people living closer to the borders. Then these raids became more and more frequent and some Vikings even started settling in present day England. During this period several Anglo-Saxons rulers attempted somehow to fight the Vikings but the problem was that sometimes it was quite difficult because you had to unite and join forces while Anglo-Saxon kingdoms would often ссорится among themselves. However, this effort led to the emergence of the kingdom of England in the 10th century. Starting from the 10th century we can talk about England.
A bit earlier than that in the 9th century by 875 there was Anglo-Saxon King - King Alfred - who ruled Wessex and probably was most successful in opposing the Vikings. He was the one who managed to win a decisive battle in 878 and capture London. After this battle the territory of present-day England was roughly divided into the territory controlled by King Alfred and the territory controlled by the Danes. The Viking controlled area became known as the Dane-law because the danish would collect taxes there and exercise their influence on this territory. As for the rest of England this was the foundation of the present-day England controlled by Anglo-Saxons.
King's council (the Witan – дружина) – the King turns to these people to get an advice; the King could always ignore the Witan. The Witan's authority was based on his right to choose the King; the King's authority was in danger;
Shires and Counties – sometimes
Shire – fascinating thing is that present division of England is quite the same is historical one.
Sheriff – initially were local administration of the King. Local officials.
the manorial system (manors: collect taxes, protect land and so on)
Military
Earl (графы) – initially earls were warlords. Manors were administrated by earls who were the warriors.
Christian Church was primary source of education; bishops gave support to the kings; God's approval was crucial and important; it made the power more legitimate.
Monasteries or minsters (Westminster for example). The Church also contribute to the system of law and government. Monasteries were established by the Crown and were the places of knowledge
Edward the Confessor - English king in 1035. Originally, he came from Normandy (France). He spent most of his life there. Basically, he only came to England when he was crowned. He brought quite a few Normans with him to England (these were children and grandchildren of the Vikings who had formally raided the north of France the way they did with England and then settled there). Edward lived only until 1066.
The question now was who should follow Edward the confessor on the throne? There were 3 possible answers.
The first one of them was the Harald III of Norway. He was the Viking but he claimed the English throne based on the fact that some of his previous a ncestors (предки) had reigned in England and that's why he thought he had claims to the English throne as well. But he was quite unpopular with the English.
The most popular claimant was Harold Godwinson. He had no royal blood but he was a good and brave warrior and an Anglo-Saxon. He was liked by the English and by the English nobility (знать) and the Witan. That's why at some point soon after Edward the Confessors’ death the Witan shows Harold Godwinson to be the next English king.
But the situation got even more complicated when one more claimant on the throne appeared. This was William of Normandy. He claimed that Edward the Confessor himself not long before his death promised him to pass on the throne to him. What is more is that William said Harold Godwinson at some point had a conversation with him and promised him that he will not claim the English throne after the king's death. So, William of Normandy generally thought that he had all legal claims to the English throne.
He was umbraged ['əmbrij] (обижен) when he learned about the fact that the Witan had chosen Harold Godwinson to be the next English king. So, despite the support of the Witan Harold Godwinson found himself in a very complicated situation. He was faced by 2 dangers: one in the south and one in the north. In 1066 Harald of Norway decided to take England by force and he attacked England from the north. To fight the Vikings Harold Godwinson had to march quite a long way up north and then face Vikings there and take part in the battle. He managed to win and Harald of Norway was killed in the battle. But almost immediately after that Harold Godwinson learned that in the south William of Normandy had landed. So, without even having time to rest Harold Godwinson’s army marched back south and had to fight the Normans. Probably if Harold G. had taken some time to think and to give his soldiers some rest or if he had waited for the rest of Anglo-Saxons army to join him, he would have won. But what happened was the fact that his men were tired and the Normans were not, the Normans were armed better, they had horses which the Anglo-Saxons didn’t and they won. William won the battle and marched back to London afterwards. The city gave in quite quickly. Christmas Day 1066 - William of Normandy was crowned as the next English king at Westminster Abbey. He was later to be known as William the Conqueror.
Begore 1066. The Vikings
The emergence of the Kingdom of England (10AD). Anglo-Saxon kingdom quarrelled between themselves.
875 – Alfred who rules Essex, the one who in 878 captured London with the help of the Vikings. Viking controlled that territory and establish the Danelaw.
Edward in 1035 become the king of Normandy (France); he brought some normans to the London. He died in 1066 without obvious will and follower.
Harald III of Norway, was quite unpopular in England, but his ancestors and relatives were rulers in England.
Harold Godvinson was a brave warrior, has no royal blood, but people and the nobility liked him, he was a skilled general and charismatic leader. He was crowned after the death of the Confessor.
William of Normandy.
Despite the support of the Witan Harald Godvinson
1066 ("ten sixty six") – William defeated Harald Godvinson.
Harold Godvinson marched to the north to fight the normans. The normans won due to better horses and arms.
1066 – William of Normandy was crowned as an English King.
The form of medieval societies, in which they existed can simply be called FEUDALISM. Basis of feudalistic society is holding the land. The main purpose of the land is economic, but at the same time the more land you have the more power and influence you have as well. That's why it was generally supposed that all land on the country was owned by the king, but the king could give this land out to his vassals. The main nobles (дворянство; знать) of king (180 barons) would usually get very large pieces of land and that's why they could rather split their piece of land into smaller pieces and give them out to lesser nobles (for example, to the knights 3000-5000) who either paid some rent for this land or did military services for the lord in return for this land. The bottom of this society were peasants ['p e sents] (крестьяне) - people who actually worked on the land and in the 11th century they pretty much resembled slaves.
At the time of the Norman conquest and immediately after it England was not the most well-developed country in Europe.
In Europe vast areas of land usually belonged to 1 tenant-in-chief (главный арендатор?). The bigger piece of land you have the more powerful you are and it very often happened do that sometimes the king himself (for example, the king of France) was not the most powerful landlord because he wouldn’t have more land. And that very often led to the struggle between the largest land-lords for power and influence which resulted in private warfare (междоусобицы). As for the financial side, the king usually lived on collecting customers dues (for example, revenues from courts or income from royal land). When William the I became king, he was very careful in the way he gave out land to his vassals. Of course, he had to ‘thank’ them for their support in conquering the country and he gave them quite a lot of land. But a landlord would never get one big piece of land in one phase. William would rather give him a lot of smaller pieces of land in different parts of England. This was made in order to make it difficult for any powerful noble to gather his army quickly in order to, for example, overthrow the king. The only exception here were the border territories close to Wales and Scotland because these were not peaceful regions and it was important to have big army in there in order to control the borders. So as a result, if we look at all the land there was in England at that time, half of the land in total belonged to the Norman nobles, quarter of it belonged to church and 1/5 belonged to the king. So as a result, England was different from the rest of Europe because it had only one powerful family instead of a large number of powerful feudals. And William, as well as many kings after him, thought of England as their personal property. Private warfare was forbidden in England because William very soon understood that it was much easier to profit from a peaceful country rather than from the one that was constantly troubled and damaged by conflicts. Apart from customary dues William started to collect taxes from the population
Feudalism. The basis of medieval society is holding the land. It was generally supposed that all land in the country belongs to the King. The main nobles of the King (180 barons). 3000-5000 knights
Peasants ['pesents] – крестьяне
England was not a very developed country compared to Europe.
Private warfare – междоусобица (only singular – no private warfares, only private warfare).
taxes – for example taxes for court.
The thing is a landlord possessed many lands in different parts
That's why barons cannot quickly bother an army in order to overthrow the King.
1/5 of the land – to the King. One powerful family instead of several ones.
In medieval and early modern Europe the term tenant-in-chief (or vassal-in- chief) is a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opposed to holding them from another nobleman or senior member of the clergy.
William started to collect taxed apart from customary dues.
Domesday book, 1086 (ten-eighty six) – Книга страшного суда.
– how many ships were kept there
Common people generally were scared by the control.
William generally wanted to be everything in a legal form and legitimize his power and Domesday book helped him. William was still a conqueror in the eyes of many people.
In order to make the taxes system work efficiently William wanted to know exactly who owned which piece of land and how much this land was worth. So, he needed to gather this information in order to plan his economy and to find out how much was produced and how much he could ask in tax. Therefore, he sent a special team of people through England to make what we would call an Economic Survey. So, his men would come to a town or village and ask all sorts of questions, like ‘how much land is here? Who owns it? How much is it worth? How many sheep are kept here? How many farmers work here?’ And so on. This survey was the only one of its kind in Europe at that time. It wasn’t very popular among people because common people were generally scared of all this, they had a feeling that they could not escape from these findings and what was happening reminded them a lot about the day of judgment (судный день), it is also called Dome. That's why the result of the survey is known as a ‘Domesday's book’. It is dated 1086. This survey would establish who held what including what was owned by the Norman lords, not just Anglo-Saxon ones. The survey also helped to clarify what rights and dues were owned to the king and helped to control the lands more effectively. William generally wanted everything to follow the legal form because he wanted to legitimize his time to show that he claimed the thrown not only by the right of conquest but also with the support of the law, that he was a legitimate king. And Domesday's book helped him. What is more important many years to come the Domesday book was also used for administrative purposes.
Before the conquest generally there was a cooperation between the king and the church. The church helped to legitimize the power of the king by telling the nation that he was chosen be god and the king would help church to extend its lands? All over the country. William introduced something new into this relationship, which is the idea of subordination. The king was now superior to the church. William had the right to appoint bishops and remove abbots. He also used the churchmen as his major administrators, because these were the most literate and educated people in the country at that time. He also introduced a successful reform and reorganization of the English Church. This was done in order to make the English church less depending to roman catholic church. Finally, he protected the church itself by establishing its own special courts which became known as ecclesiastical courts. They dealt only with the matters of church law and offenses committed by churchmen.
William introduces something new to the relations between the State and the Church.
Abbots and bishops were literate and educated people.
Monarch and the Church were equal before 1066. Bishops and abbots were the only educated and literate people so they were appointed as officials.
New special Courts – ecclesiastical courts – court that dealt with only church law.
Administative Changes:
– Curia Regis (then the importance of the Witan decreased), body of central government. It was the new form of the Witan. In modern terms it was a legislative and a judicial body at the same time. It was a kind of court and government.
– the system of sheriffs. Each shire was controlled by a sheriff, he collected taxed, raised army and protected the land; William appoint mainly normans to the positions of Sheriffs.
– Separation of lay courts (светские, мирские) and church (or clerical) courts
– Trial by ordeal was replaced with trial by jury. Ordeal – ордалия. William substituted trials by ordeals with jury trials.
Before the Norman conquest there was no strong central government. The King and the Witan had very little control over the whole kingdom. So, William had to introduce a serious reform although we can't say that it changed all the customary laws. The King’s Council (Curia Regis). First of all, the Kings Council was set up and it substituted more or less the Witan in its functions. There were barons, lords, bishops, and people of the army, important figures of the kingdom on whose advice king could rely. They helped the king to administrate the country. And what is also important William used Curia Regis as a court for deciding disputes. So, people could come to this court with their complaints or accusations and then the king along with his advisors would try to give judgment on this case. The king's council was contributed to the establishment of really strong central government. William kept the Anglo-Saxons system of sheriffs. He needed sheriffs to control his nobles locally. As each shire was controlled by sheriffs and sheriffs were local representatives of the king, they were entrusted with collecting taxes, deciding local disputes, raising an army if necessary and protecting the local area. But in order not to make Anglo-Saxons too powerful he appointed only Normans to the positions of sheriffs, so the system was Anglo-Saxon, but the people who were sheriffs were mainly Normans. The church got its own courts so now the lay courts were separated from ecclesiastical (clerical, church) courts and their jurisdictions were from now on different. Another innovation was the introduction of the trial by jury. On any case when it was not quite clear whether the person was guilty or not before William a very popular procedure was a trial by ordeal (ордалия) which was something like ‘let's put hot iron to this man's tongue and then if there is no burn left on his tongue then he’s innocent because god will protect him, however if there is, the he is probably guilty’. William substituted this by trial by jury.
System of Courts
1) Shire divided into 'hundreds'
2) Shire courts existed before the conquest
3) Feudal courts (earls) + ecclesiastical courts (bishops). Church law, s e cular law and so on.
There were judges in shires who collected local customary law and this was the beginning of common law. Each shire was controlled by sheriffs. William appointed mainly Normans to the position of sheriffs.
Two things to remember:
1) Why did William to keep the system of Sheriffs? He couldn't be everywhere in the same time. Anglo-Saxon institution – he needed sheriffs to control the territory.
2) William didn't appoint Anglo-Saxons in order to prevent rebellions. Anglo-Saxons were not happy about his norman conquest.
William also divided the country further: the country was divided into shires. Each shire was divided into ‘hundreds’. Each hundred had its own court. Then each shire got its court as well. These were mainly ones that already existed before the conquest. In shire courts sheriff would decide disputes. There was a creation of the next level courts - Feudal courts. Here earls acted as judges. Apart from that there were church courts (ecclesiastic courts) were bishops acted like judges. So not only did William introduced judicial laws but also allowed English people to keep quite few of them customary laws. However, at the same time this led to certain confusions because there were local traditional laws, new central laws introduced by Normans, church law, secular law and so on. And William did something very important to the history of English and British law in general. He started the first step of standardizing the law, he understood that this could not be the justice in such a legal chaos, so he started sending judges from Westminster to shires all over England. They would take part in deciding disputes locally and when doing so they would observe local laws and local traditions, the way people decided this or that decision in this or that shire. Then when they came back to Westminster they would share their impressions, discuss local traditions. Sometimes they kept some of the local laws that seemed reasonable. This was the beginning of the formation of common law.
Lecture 2. (перепечатал Сергей Чебан по аудио Софьи Лепневой)
We can single out three branches of government which are legislative, judiciary and executive. Decisions from High Court and Supreme Court usually form precedents. Supreme court deals with important matters of law. Most important matters of law that affect all country.
1/50 of the land belonged to the King and it was a lot, he retained power in his hands, he retained the position of the most powerful feudal in the kingdom.
Domesday's Book – in 1086 – ten-sixty-eight. William wanted to make his position stronger.
England in the 12th century. Добавил некоторую инфу из Dozen lessons.
1. Henry I (1100-1135)
a. coming to power
b. the Charter of Liberties, 1100
c. government;
d. church and state relations
Henry II (1154-1189)
a. reform of the judicial system
b. conflict with the church
Henry I, the ablest (способнейший) of the Conqueror's sons. William the Conqueror (after his death in 1087) gave
– Normandy to the first, elder son Robert of Normandy;
– England to his second son William II Rufus (Rufus in L a tin means red-haired);
– and five thousand pounds to Henry.
you vs the guy she tells you not to worry about
Robert of Normandy went to the Crusade (Крестовый поход), he wanted to fight the Muslims at the holy land, he needed someone to look after the Normandy at his absence, while he was at the Crusade – and this was William II Rufus. He left William II in charge (=responsible) of Normandy when he was absent.
William II Rufus was shot dead by an arrow in 1100 ('eleven hundred') – he died in a hunting accident. Rumors said that it was not an accident, and Henry, the youngest brother, made sure that it happened. William Rufus hadn't married, didn't have any son to take the Crown the question of succession arose. At the time of William's death Robert was on his way back to Normandy, he was not back yet. Henry realized that if he wanted English crown, he had to act fast.
Henry thought he could take treasure of the king – and he did it, Henry took charge of the king's treasury, he took control over state's finances and then he went to Westminster where he was very quickly crowned as the English king – Robert was furious. It took him about a year to raise (collect) army, organize it and prepare for the invasion.
Norman nobles in England faced a difficult choice between Henry who had already been crowned as an English king and Robert who was in charge of Normandy. The problem was that most Norman nobles had lands both in England and Normandy.
Eventually nobles chose Henry, not Robert, because it was Henry who was already in London and was already crowned. Robert's invasion turned out to be a failure. And two brothers reached a compromise that Robert would recognize Henry as king of England but he would be paid by Henry. Henry in the long run (в долгосрочной перспективе) wanted more.
He knew that many of his nobles in England would follow him to fight Robert in order to take back control of the Norman lands. In 1106 (eleven-o-six) Henry invaded Normandy and captured Robert, and Normandy and England were united under one ruler – Henry I. Robert was to spend the rest of his 80 years in castles dungeons (ˈdənjəns подземелья).
Having solved the problem with the land, Henry still felt that he had to ensure the support of his people. This was one of the main reasons why he issued the Charter of Liberties in 1100 (eleven hundred).
With this Charter the King formally bound himself by the laws which stated very important principle of English constitutional history – it is the rule of law (верховенство права). The main idea is that the King has no power to take the liberties back. The basic idea – everything and everyone should act according to the law.
The Charter of Liberties was the first document of this kind in the history of England. Moreover, it was Charter of Liberties which inspire those barons who compelled King John to sign Magna Carta in 1215. (принудили Иоанна Безземельного подписать Великую Хартию вольностей). Please do not confuse Charter of Liberties (that was in a way a basis for Magna Carta) and Magna Carta. These are two different documents.