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CHAPTER 5 THE ORIGINS OF THE CENTRAL COURTS SUMMARY The Royal Hl)useho/d The National Ammbly The RUIIII oj the C011lJ1lt11 The Mealliflg oj the word" COl(f't" The Allglo-Normall Curia Regis Th , Travelling Court: Jlllti&el in Eyre The LillIS oj Separation The OMell Off-Jh{)()t: the Exc/;eqTler The Next Off-shoot: th, COIIr! I)/Comml)n PI'M The Court 0/King's Bench The COllnection between King'! Bench and the CI)Tlflci/ Cotl11til and Parliament The AtlJitioll oj the Commons Th, Judi.lal Syllem under Edward I Fatlors ill the Growlh 0/th, CfJmmon Law PAGB 139 140 141 142 143 144 146 146 147 149 150 151 153 155 156 So far we have discussed the local courts, both communal and seignorial, and the contacts which took place between them and the royal authority, and particularly the most important of these contacts, the jury. It now remains to sketch the rise of the central courts at Westminster. THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD During the Anglo-Saxon age there was nothing which could be described as a central royal court of law, although there were certainly central royal institutions. Their formation is the product of two elements , the one being the royal household and the other the national assembly. It is to the royal household that we must look for the origins of the administrative machinery of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy. The principal household officers inevitably acquired political influence and took a part in public affairs. Similarly the group of clergy attached to the King's chapel naturally formed the nucleus of a secretariat which in time will be called the Chancery. It was only natural that the King should surround himself with men whose advice he valued. frequently placing them in high positions in the household. The household therefore consisted not merely of the King's domestic servants but also of men of an official class whose assistance was useful in the daily task of government.1 When there was added to them the body of King's 1 See the account in J. E. A. Jolliffe, Cl)IIJlihlti011a1 Hulory, 130 ff. 139 140 THE COURTS AND THE PROFESSION clerks there was all that was required for the day-to-day business of government. This system of household government survived long after the Anglo-Saxon times. The Norman kings systematised it; in the thirteenth century portions of it became separated from the household , and in the fourteenth century developed into independent offices of State closely resembling the modern civil service. But this machinery was still controlled by the household, and bitter constitutional struggles were constantly occurring as the nobility at large endeavoured to curb the activities of the household officials. The Exchequer, for example, at a very early date, had achieved a completely independent existence, and yet to the end of the fifteenth century the effective control of finance was in the hands of the household, working through the offices of the Wardrobe and the Chamber. So, too, the Chancery very soon became an independent office for the management of the Great Seal, and yet its policies were controlled either by the Council working through the Privy Seal office, or else by an inner group ofhousehold officials (especially the chamberlain of the household) working through the office of the Signet.1 The effective power wielded by the holders of the signet can be seen by the rapid rise to importance of the Secretary who was its official custodian. In the sixteenth century he becomes a " Secretary of State ", and at the present day English secretaries of state are created by the delivery of the signet~, which are handed to them by the King himself as symbols of their office. The household, therefore, is not merely the original germ of our central institutions, but has continued all through the middle ages to occupy a central position of effective political control, even over those departments of state which in former times had separated from it. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY The second element in the growth of these institutions may be described as that of the national assembly. The household was adequate enough for the ordinary daily business, but from time to time questions arose which required the advice of a larger number ofpeople representing more varied interests. The effective political public for a long time coincided with the small class of great nobles and great ecclesiastics. Matters of grave importance would naturally be discussed at a somewhat large meeting...

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