1) Henry promised to set rights that the previous administration had violated (нарушали), and he promises to give up many practices of the past, demonstrating how oppressive (жестоким, деспотическим) Norman government had become.
2) He dealt with natural inheritance (вопросы наследования). If you were a son of a noble, and your father died, you couldn't simply inherit your estate, you had to serve for the crown. He guaranteed that sums paid by feudal vassals when they took over (наследуют) their fathers' estates would be 'just and legitimate '. And everyone could normally inherit their property without buying it back (без выкупа).
3) promised liberties to the 'people'. By 'people' in this document he meant only barons. No-one thought about peasants or other social classes.
4) promised to forgive any debts that people owed to his brother. Henry promised to end heavy taxation established by his brother William Rufus.
5) promised to refused (в лекции М.В. говорит resign, а когда ей про это сказали в ответах на вопросы, она сказала, что это неверно) Church property which his brother William Rufus had seized
6) promised to do no wrong to the nobles.
7) to restore to the people (восстановить для народа) the laws of Edward the Confessor (who was an ideal lawgiver) with all the improvements of William the Conqueror.
8) promised to give the nobles a choice to do military service for the crown or just to pay scutage instead [pronunciation: ск а титч] (налог на освобождение от военной службы).
William Rufus was not very popular King and good administrator, because he introduced corrupt taxation and very often seized land from his nobles and the Church. But Henry was popular, people were attached to their new king, because he was an Englishman by birth, not a Norman. By issuing this Charter Henry gained support of his people who eventually helped him in his war against his brother Robert.
This document was even too much democratic – there were no effectives ways and mechanism to enforce it actually, no legal mechanism to make people follow the provisions of the Charter (положения Хартии). The King very often ignore the Charter. A lot of practices of the past continued to exist.
Henry proved to be an efficient ruler. He continued and extended administrative work of his father, William I. He appointed not only people from the nobility but also people from lower social classes. His idea was that if you had to win your position, influence, money, you will work much harder and better rather than a person who was born with all of this. It was a quite progressive idea.
Henry has continued to consult Curia Regis. Henry was frequently absent from England and he needed a system that could operate effectively in his absence. For example, the exchequer was set up. The exchequer (казначейство)was a financial department of the king's administration, and he dealt with all royal revenues. Henry continued using Domesday's Book for the matters of taxation.
Sheriffs began to become a lot powerful, Henry created Pipe Rolls – there stated how much sheriffs collected taxes and how much they spent; Pipe Rolls – regular accounting documents at the exchequer (first ones were in 1129-1130). Регулярные отчеты шерифов казначейству.
Royal justices were often sent out to the shires to help and reinforce the local administration; they also inquired (исследовали) into cases that had involved the crown or matters of the kingdom in general (or the profit of the King) – this was another way of controlling sheriffs who also served as judges at shire courts. When justices came to the shires, they even decided cases instead of the sheriffs. Justices imposed royal authority over the authority of the sheriff himself.
Most of 12th century was marked by a struggle between the Church and the State. The struggle was, of course, for power and money. The Church wanted the King to accept its authorities over both spiritual and earthly affairs. Church argue that even the King should answer to the God, be accountable to the God. English (and other kings) wanted to appoint only bishops who were loyal to him.
Church (and Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury) didn't want to be under complete control of the King. Conflicted was so heated – Anselm was even forced into exile (в ссылку) for two years. Henry created several new bishops and appointed his loyal people to these offices. Henry appointed new bishops in the absence of Anselm. The problem is that bishop has the authority only if he has the blessing (благословление) of the Archbishop, and these new bishops had no authority because Archbishop was absent. Anselm was absent but he managed to win the support of the Pope.
The Pope threatened Henry I with excommunication (отлучение от церкви) – breaking all the diplomatic ties (связи), it was quite scaring to the King.
It was obvious that a compromise had to be reached. In 1107 (eleven-o-seven) the King agrees that only the Church appoints bishops; the King could only supervise the process of the elections and advise, express his own ideas and preferences on this matter, and the Church in return promised to make bishops pay homage to the king for the temporalities (lands used by the Church). Homage (дань) – sort of feudal dues. Finally, some peace was made. But when Anselm died, Henry tried to take advantage of the situation (извлечь выгоду из ситуации). Henry delayed appointment of the archbishops for 5 years, and benefitted from the wealth of the Church. And the struggle between the Church and the State continued.
Henry II
(1154–1189)
During the last 15 years of the reign of Henry I the succession to the throne was again a major issue. Problem of succession. Problem was that Henry's only legitimate son William was drowned (утонул) in 1120, leaving Matilda as heir to the throne (наследница, читается как air).
Matilda, Henry I's daughter was an unfortunate woman, she was first married with German emperor Henry V, but he died in 1125, and she married the second time. Henry I persuaded his barons to swear an oath in her support but did not consult them over her second marriage to a French nobleman – Geoffrey of Anjou who was 14 and was 11 years her junior. Within (в течение) a year Geoffrey repudiated (развелся) Matilda, but during a temporary reconciliation, Matilda and Geoffrey had three children. Geoffrey Plantagenet came from Anju – large and very important area south of Normandy (южнее Нормандии). With this marriage Henry tried to enlarge family possessions and the land that the English monarch controlled.
Henry publicly quarreled with Matilda and her husband. And soon after that died – nobles didn't know what to do: on the one hand, they promised to the King to make Matilda a queen; on the other hand, there was a quarrel between the King and supposed heir to the throne.
Stephen was Henry's nephew. Stephen went to England to claim the crown. Matilda was still staying in Anju with her husband, and nobody knew when she was going to arrive in England. Nobles in England had to choose between two candidates: Matilda and Stephen. No wonder, most chose Stephen, not Matilda. However, Matilda wouldn't give up her claims to the throne and 4 years later and civil war began. Severe civil war – terrible war between Matilda and Stephen. Neither side could decisively win. By 1153 it was clear that conflict went nowhere, and they reached a compromise: Stephen is the King, but Matilda's son will be the ruler after Stephen's death; Matilda's son Henry would succeed Stephen. Stephen died next year. And finally, the possessions in England and in France were united by the King Henry who was accepted by everyone.
It took years for the country to recover from the civil war.
Henry II – he was the first unquestioned English King for hundred years. Henry was an efficient ruler. He did many things for the legal system. He very often gathered Assizes. Assize – it is meeting with barons where cases could be heard and decided. Assizes could issue binding decrees. They could prescribe rules to be followed by everyone.
Criminal Proceeding:
1166 – Assize of Clarendon – grand jury system for investigating recent crimes;
1176 – Assize of Northampton – a jury to decide which cases should be tried; it provided the jury with the opportunity to decide which cases should be tried and why.
1181 – Assize of Arms – all free men should keep arms and be prepared to defend the country if necessary.
Assize – a step of development of precedent.
Assize – development of the jury system.
Juries is an important step. Jury originally were the people who lived in the area where the crime was committed. Jury has the authority to investigate recent crimes.
Jury decided if there were enough grounds to prosecute this person. Jury swear an oath (приносят клятву) that they will give their honest opinion on whether the prisoner was properly suspected. Henry II was particularly interested in getting local people involved in the administration of justice and shires, because he believed that those people who knew both the accuser and the accused could be more qualified in such kind of job, they could be more objective and best qualified to say whether there was likely to be truth in the allegation (обвинение).
Another principle that was established – during ruling of Henry – only royal courts, not feudal courts, not local feudal can deal with criminal cases and cases concerning property. Certain division of the jurisdiction between local and royal courts.
The reign of Henry II was important for providing stability.
Principle of primogeniture was established |ˌpraɪmoʊˈdʒenɪtʃər|принцип первородства – means that the eldest child of the family inherits the estate when the father dies – consolidation of property. In England it was basically male primogeniture – the eldest son. Other members of the family weren't left poor. 1/3 – to other relatives (whom? I can't make out this word, sorry).
Daughters were given a dowry [d a uri] (приданое). Younger brothers were usually left without any financial support of their family.
Another established principle – the principle that individual could sell or give away his land. This sound obvious but before that it was extremely hard to do it because people saw land as a family asset (актив, имущество семьи) – and needed the cons e nt (согласие) of all family members to sell the land – that was extremely hard – now the process was made easier and it increased social mobility and economic changes in the country because there was a market of land in England. For us the most important l e gacy ['legasi] (наследие) of Henry II is the legal system. Legal system was finally formed during his reign.
William I very quickly understood that the system of government was needed to be reformed. Legal system looks like a mixture of Norman laws, Anglo-Saxon laws, Church laws and so on and so forth.
William was the first one who tried to do something about it when he started sending some of his justices to administer justice locally. For centuries English monarchs had to go to the shires and meet people there together with their officials in to secure their authority. When the King travel around the country he very often took the court with himself.
William I took his advisors and went to judge people in shires – they decided some local disputes. People could come to the King and his advisors with their complaints and accusations (grievances). And the King said: sit down on a bench and listen.
Later kings were less inclined (менее склонны) to do this job (judiciary) themselves. Royal justices – professionals who did this job instead of the Kings – and they were appointed by the King. King Henry II was particularly interested in law and order, and he played an important role in the development of the legal system. He understood that a single system of justice for the whole land under the control of one person – the king – would not only help to unify the country, but give him much power.
Henry (and his father and grandfather) set foundations for the professional justiceships. The tradition when the King sits down on a Bench with his advisors and decide cases led to the formation of new royal court that became known as the King's Bench. (Modern Court of King's Bench originated from that court).
18 royal judges
1) 5 of them Henry ordered to always sit 'on the bench' meaning stay at Westminster and decide cases that were brought to them at Westminster.
The rest judges:
2) Following the king – these were judges travelling with the King
3) 'it i nerant' justices (айт и нерант), traveling justices (странствующие судьи) – travelled without the King. They were sent out to the shires with particular tasks, they had to see how the justice were administered locally and help the local administration apply national laws to the localities – apply laws that have been made by judges at Westminster. They brought national laws to local parts of England and apply national laws within the whole country
Local customary laws were different from shire to shire. Law was unified, and soon became known as common law. If local customary law make sense, if it is reasonable and could be applied – judges bring it to the Westminster, discuss it with other justices and they add it to the list of national laws.
Stare decisis [stea desaisis] (literally – 'let the decision stand') – predictability
It makes legal system more certain and predictable. The idea of stare decisis: if you have to solve the case, and the idea of the case is quite similar to the idea in any other previous case – you should apply the same kind of decision in the same case.
The application of this principle made legal system more certain and predictable.
In the 1250s – the formation of Common law completed. It was 'Common' because common for all of the parts of England and Wales. And Henry II contributed to it most.
The differences between case law and common law (sometimes used as synonyms) – case law refers to a legal system based of precedent. Common law originally meant a combination of precedents + local customs.
