'Tis true, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, boldly and insolently took upon him to declare many of those Articles void, especially those Five mentioned in his Epistle to Suffragans, recorded by Hoveden, viz. 1st, That there should be no Appeal to the Bishop without the King's Licence. 2dly, That no Archbishop or Bishop should go over the Seas at the Pope's Command without the King's Licence. 3dly, That the Bishop should not excommunicate the King's Tenants in Capite without the King's Licence. 4thly, That the Bishop should not have the Conuzance of Perjury, or Fidei Laesionis. And, 5thly, That the Clergy should be convened before Lay Judges, and that the King's Courts should have Conuzance of Churches and of Tythes.
Thirdly, He raised up the Municipal Laws of the Kingdom to a greater Perfection, and a more orderly and regular Administration than before; 'tis true, we have no Record of judicial Proceedings so ancient as that Time, except the Pipe Rolls in the Exchequer, which are only Accounts of his Revenue: But we need no other Evidence hereof than the Tractate of Glanville, which tho' perhaps it was not written by that Ranulphus de Glanvilla, who was Justitiarius Angliae under Hen. 2, yet it seems to be wholly written at that Time; and by that Book, tho' many Parts thereof are at this Day antiquated and altered, and in that long Course of Time, which has elapsed since that King's Reign, much enlarged, reformed, and amended; yet by comparing it with those Laws of the Confessor and Conqueror, yea, and the Laws of his Grandfather King Hen. I which he confirmed; it will easily appear, that the Rule and Order, as well as the Administration of the Law, was greatly improved beyond what it was formerly, and we have more Footsteps of their Agreement and Concord herein with the Laws, as they were used from the Time of Edw. I and downwards, than can be found in all those obsolete Laws of Hen. Iwhich indeed were but disorderly, confused and general Things, rather the Cases and Shells of directing the Way of Administration than Institutions of Law, if compared with Glanville's Tractate of our Laws.
Fourthly, The Administration of the Common Justice of the Kingdom, seems to be wholly dispensed in the County Courts, Hundred Courts, and Courts Baron, except some of the greater Crimes reformed by the Laws of King Hen. I and that Part thereof which was sometimes taken up by the Justitiarius Anglicae: This doubtless bred great Inconvenience, Uncertainty, and Variety in the Laws, viz.
First, by the Ignorance of the Judges, which were the Freeholders of the County: For altho' the Alderman or Chief Constable of every Hundred was always to be a Man learned in the Laws; and altho' not only the Freeholders, but the Bishops, Barons, and great Men, were by the Laws of King Hen. I appointed to attend the County Court; yet they seldom attend there, or if they did, in Process of Time they neglected the Study of the English Laws, as great Men usually do.
Secondly, Another Inconvenience was, That this also bred great Variety of Laws, especially in the several Counties: For the Decisions or Judgments being made by divers Courts, and several Independent Judges and Judicatories, who had no common Interest among them in their several Judicatories, thereby in Process of Time every several County would have several Laws, Customs, Rules, and Forms of Proceeding, which is always the Effect of several Independent Judicatories administred by several Judges.
Thirdly, A Third Inconvenience was, That all the Business of any Moment was carried by Parties and Factions: For the Freeholders being generally the Judges, and Conversing one among another, and being as it were the Chief Judges, not only of the Fact, but of the Law; every Man that had a Suit there, sped according as he could make Parties; and Men of great Power and Interest in the County did easily overbear others in their own Causes, or in such wherein they were interested, either by Relation of Kindred, Tenure, Service, Dependance, or Application.
And altho' in Cases of false Judgment, the Law, even as then used, proved a Remedy by Writ of false Judgment before the King or his Chief Justice; and in Case the Judgment was found to be such in the County Court, all the Suiters were considerably amerced, (which also continued long after in Use with some Severity) yet this proved but an ineffectual Remedy for those Mischiefs.
Therefore the King took another and a more effectual Course;for in the 22d Year of his Reign, by Advice of his Parliament held at Northampton, he instituted Justices itinerant, dividing the Kingdom into Six Circuits, and to every Circuit allotting Three Judges, Knowing or Experienced in the Laws of the Realm:
These Justices with their several Circuits are declared by Hoveden, sub eodem Anno, i. e. 22 H. 2. viz.
1. Hugo Cressy, Walterus filius Roberti, & Robertus Maunsel, for Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford, Buckingham, Essex, and Hartford Counties.
2. Hugo de Gundevilla, W. filius Radulphi, & W. Basset, for Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, W arwick, Northampton, and Leicester Counties.
3. Robertus filius Bernardi, Richardus Giffard, & Rogerus filius Ramfrey, for Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berks, and Oxon Counties.
4. W. filius Stephani, Bertein de Verdun, & Turstavi filius Simonis, for Hereford, Gloucester, Worcester, and Salop Countries.
5. Radulphus filius Stephani, W. Ruffus, & Gilbertus Pipard, for the Counties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall.
6. Robertus deWatts, Radulphus de Glanvilla, & Robertus Picknot, for the Counties of York, Richmond, Lancaster Copland, Westmorland, Northumberland, and Cumberland.
Hi, (Consilio Archiepiscoporum, Episcoporum, Comitum &Baronum Regni, &c. apud Nottingham existentium) missi sunt per singulos Angliae Comitatus & juraverunt quod cuilibet jus suum conservarent illae sum. Hoveden fo. 313. & Mat. Paris, in Anno 1176.
