English law

English law, also known as common law, is a set of generally applied rules used in England as well as most other English-speaking countries, most notably the United States. Gradually developing since ancient times, English law is based on precedent, or prior rulings by law courts, rather than on statutes written by kings or other lawmakers. English law most often deals with civil issues such as inheritance and possession of property and conduct of individual citizens.

Origins

The development of English law parallels the development of England as a state and reaches back to ancient times. The ancient peoples of England, including the Britons, lived in tribes. Each tribe created its own systems of rules and rulers. Over time, the tribes mingled, traded, and fought, gradually merging their laws and creating commonly accepted rules pertaining to social conduct, property ownership, and individual freedoms.

In the first centuries C.E., powerful new cultural and political influences arrived in England and the surrounding regions. In 43, Roman forces invaded and conquered the land. The Romans often tried to alter local customs and introduce Roman laws. Around 410, Roman forces promptly left the British Isles, and by around 450, Germanic tribes such as the Anglo-Saxons moved into the sparsely protected territories.

The Anglo-Saxons became a dominant power in England and mixed their own customs and laws with those of the native people. By this time, many influences had helped to develop basic societies and legal systems in England. King Alfred the Great, reigning from 871 to 899, gathered the most commonly used laws from throughout his realms and began to compile a code of laws to be observed throughout the entire kingdom.

During this early stage in the development of English law, some of the most important rules dealt with the inheritance of property (at the time, all male children could inherit property without primogeniture, the favoring of eldest sons). Other rules determined penalties for crimes, which were usually mild—often consisting only of fines—because crimes were viewed as private, rather than public, offenses. County courts staffed by sheriffs, bishops, royal officials, and juries made most legal rulings.

English Law Takes Shape

In 1066, William the Conqueror and an army of Normans invaded England and imposed their will on the people. Norman rulers made changes to laws regarding land allocation, including detailed recordkeeping of landholders. Normans brought the theory that crimes were offenses against the public and introduced harsher penalties for criminal behavior, including corporal punishment. They also designed a more centralized government based around a king aided by a bureaucracy of lesser leaders.

Unlike the Romans, the Normans stayed in the British Isles and gradually melded into the population. Their legal innovations also mixed with the existing laws of the people and helped to make an English government and legal system with strong authorities, clear administration patterns, and a relatively efficient justice system. King Henry II, who reigned from 1154 to 1189, was particularly instrumental in bringing together the practices and rules of the kingdom into a more singular and formal legal structure.

In the Middle Ages, different kinds of courts—both civil and religious—administered the different regions of England. The three main common law courts were the Court of King's Bench, the highest court in the land; the Court of Common Pleas, which held jurisdiction over most everyday civil disputes; and the Court of Exchequer, which dealt with matters of taxation. Thanks to innovations such as impartial juries, focused legal disputes with limited issues, and rapidly tried cases, the courts of England were able to reach many important legal conclusions. Each ruling was recorded, and these records often provided precedents for subsequent cases. The keeping of records and the use of legal precedents completed the creation of English common law.

The coming centuries were full of political changes in England and surrounding lands. In 1215, the Magna Carta signed by King John reevaluated the relationship between citizens and monarchs. In 1265, Parliament met for the first time and brought a crucial new aspect to English legislation. Soon, the English people had a solid and efficient government with distinct political and legal structures, including its unique and ever-evolving system of common law.

Spread and Modernization of English Law

As England's power grew so did its influence over other lands. In the early 1600s, English investors and explorers began attempting to establish colonies in North America. Hundreds of thousands of Native Americans already inhabited North America, but the English viewed these native people as uncivilized. For that reason, colonists from England brought their own legal system with them to North America.

Starting with the Jamestown Colony in Virginia in 1607, English settlers, backed by royal charters and encouragement, began aggressively occupying many parts of North America. Charters guaranteed these colonists the full legal rights of English citizens, and colonial leaders quickly set up their own legal codes based on English law.

Most colonists had only the most basic knowledge of law, however, and judges, lawyers, and legal texts were rare in the colonies. For these reasons, many colonists began improvising their own laws. They also selectively applied new legal precedents from cases in England. In this way, the legal system of the Thirteen Colonies—which later became the United States—was unique, but still clearly derived from the basic tenets of common law. Similarly, the laws of most English-speaking countries have drawn heavily from age-old English legal traditions.

Common law is still essential in England and other places for its ability to provide precedents and consistency to legal rulings on all manners of civil issues. Although common law does not grow or change as quickly as it did in the Middle Ages, it is still flexible. For example, in the modern era, English law had to integrate with the legal traditions of continental Europe during England's interactions with the European Union.

Bibliography

DeBow, Michael. "Anglo-American Legal Timeline." Legal Process. Samford University. 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. http://www2.samford.edu/~medebow/Timeline.html

"The Evolution of Parliament." www.parliament.uk. Parliament. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/

Hudson, John. "Common Law - Henry II and the Birth of a State." BBC. BBC. 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle‗ages/henryii‗law‗01.shtml

Willis, John. "Common Law." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Co., 1910. Web. 20 Jan. 2015. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09068a.htm