Secondly, He observed the same Method of distributing Justice as his Father had begun, by Justices Itinerant per singulos Angliae Comitatus, to whom he deliver two Kinds of Extracts or Articles of Inquiry, viz. Capitula Coronae, much reformed and augmented from what they were before, and Capitula de Judaeis;the whole may be read in Hoveden, fo. 423. sub Anno 5 R. I. and by those Articles it appears, That at that Time there was a settled Court for the Common-Pleas, as well as for the King's Bench, tho' it seems that Pleas of Land were then indifferently held in either, as appears by the first and second Articles thereof, where we have, Placita Per breve Domini Regis, vel Per breve Capitalis Justiciae, vel a Capitali Curia Regis coram eis (Justiciis) missa: The former whereof seems to be the Common-Pleas, which held Pleas by Original Writ, which Writ was under the King's Teste when he was in England; but when he was beyond the Seas, it was under the Teste of the Justiciarius Angliae, as the Custos Regni in the King's Absence.
The Power which the Justices Itinerant had to hold Pleas in Writs of Right, or the Grand Assize, was sometimes limited, as here by the Articuli Coronae under Hen. 2. to half a Knight's Fee, or under: For here in these Articles it is, De Magnis Assisis quae sunt de centum Solidis & infra. But in the next Commissions, or Capitula Coronae, it is, De Magnis Assisis usque ad decem Libratas Terre & infra.
In his eighth Year, he established a Common Rule for Weights and Measures throughout England, called Assisa de Mensuris, wherein we find the Measure of Woollen Cloths was then the same with that of Magna Charta, 9 H. 3. viz. De diuobus ulnis infra Lisuras.
In the Year before his Death, the like Justices Errant went through many Counties of England, to whom Articles, or Capitiuls Placitorium Coronae, not much unlike the former were delivered.
Vide Hoveden, sub Anno 1198. fo. 445.
And in the same Year, he issued Commissions in the Trent, Hugh de Neville being Chief Justice; and to those were also delivered Articles of Inquiry, commonly called Assisae de Foresta, which may be read at large in Hoveden, sub eodem Anno.
These gave great Discontent to the Kingdom, for both the Laws of the Forest, and their Execution were rigorous and grievous.
King John succeeded his said Brother, both in the Kingdom of England, and Dutchy of Normandy; the Evidence that we have, touching the Progress of the Laws of his Time, are principally Three, viz. First. His Charters of Liberties. 2dly, The Records of Pleadings and Proceedings in his Courts; And 3dly, The Course he took for settling the English Laws in Ireland.
1. Touching the first of these, his Charters of the Liberties of England, and of the Forest, were hardly, and with Difficulty, gained by his Baronage at Stanes, Anno Dom. 1215. The Collection of the former was, as Mat. Paris tells us, upon the View of the Charter or Law of King Hen. I. which says, he contained "quasdam Libertates & Leges a Rege Edvardo Sancto, Ecclesiae & Magnatibus concessas, exceptis quibusdam Libertatibus quas idem Rex de suo adjecit"; and that thereupon the Baronage fell into a Resolution to have those Laws granted by King John. But as it is certain, that the Laws added by King Hen. I to those of the Confessor were many more, and much differing from his; so the Laws contained in the Great Charter of King John, differed much from those of King Hen. I. Neither are we to think, that the Charter of King John contained all the Laws of England, but only or principally such as were of a more comprehensive Nature, and concerned the Common Rights and Liberties of the Church, Baronage and Commonalty which were of the greatest Moment, and had been most invaded by King John's Father and Brother.
The lesser Charter, or De Foresta, was to reform the Excesses and Encroachments which were made, especially in the Time of Rich. I and Hen. 2 who had made New Afforestations, and much extended the Rigour of the Forest Laws: And both these Charters do in Substance agree with that Magna Charta, & de Foresta, granted and confirm'd 9 Hen. 3. I shall not need to recite them, or to make any Collections or Inferences from them; they are both extant in the Red Book of the Exchequer, and in Mat. Paris, sub Anno 1215, and the Record and the Historian do Verbatim agree.
As to the Second Evidence we have of the Progress of the Laws in King John's Time, they are the Records of Pleadings and Proceedings which are still extant: But altho' this King endeavoured to bring the Law, and the Pleadings and Proceedings thereof, to some better Order than he found it; for saving his Profits whereof he was very studious, and for the better Reduction of it into Order and Method, we find frequently in the Records of his Time, Fines imposed, Pro Stultiloquio, which were no other than Mulcts imposed by the Court for barbarous and disorderly Pleading: From whence afterwards that Common Fine arose, Pro Pulchre Placitando, which was indeed no other than a Fine for want of it; and yet for all this, the Proceeding in his Courts were rude, imperfect, and defective, to what they were in the ensuing Times of Edw. I. &c. But some few Observables I shall take Notice of upon the Perusal of the Judicial Records of the Time of King John, viz.
1 st. That the Courts of King's-Bench and Common-Pleas were then distinct Courts, and distinctly held from the Beginning to the End of King John's Reign.
2dly, That as yet, neither one nor both of those Courts dispatch'd the Business of the Kingdom, but a great Part thereof was dispatch'd by the Justices Itinerant, which were sometimes in Use, but not without their Intermissions, and much of the Publick Business was dispatch'd in the County Courts, and in other inferior Courts; and so it continued, tho' with a gradual Decrease till the End of King Edw. I, and for some Time after:
