Legal History

Henry II reign

1154-1189

Who handled most legal business before the rise of central courts in England?

Local courts: shires, hundreds, and manors

What was the post-conquest, pre-Henry II tension?

The Anarchy, civil war for 15 years, lead to Henry II (Matilda’s son) named heir to her cousin Stephen

What are the central medieval courts?

King’s Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer

What are the other courts in Medieval common law?

Court of Chancery, ecclesiastical courts, local courts

When was the printing press invented?

introduced to England in 1476

What is a common plea?

dispute without a royal interest

Difference between tenure and estate

Tenure concered with terms upon which land is held, Estate determines for how long

What is holding land in demesne?

Land held by an individual without a tenant beneath them

What is holding land in seignory?

Land held by a lord over tenants

What are the two units of lordship?

Manor as lowest and honour as higher unit

What is homage?

Ceremony to seal the bond of a tenant’s trust in the lord

What is scutage?

Knight service commuted into money payments below level of tenants in chief, familar by the 1150s

What does incidents of tenure mean?

Special rights a lord gets when a tenant dies

What is relief?

adult heir to pay a fee to lord

What is wardship?

Lord get custody of underage heirs, controlling their land and marriages for profit

What is escheat?

Land goes back to the lord permamently where either there is no heir OR T is convicted of a felony and sentenced to death

What is Seisin?

Roman possesion: relationship between person and a thing

What is ‘the right’?

Roman dminium: ultimate legal title

What is an 'essoin’?

a formal excuse for non-appearance in court on an appointed day

What is subinfeudation?

Person could be tenant to a lord, whilst being lord to another tenant

What is are feudal services?

Regular obligations the tenant owes as price for holding land

What are incidents of tenure?

Extra rights and profits for the lord due to the feudal relationship

What are the main incidents of tenure which arise on tenant’s death?

Relief, wardship, escheat

What is primer seisin?

An incident of tenure, allowing Lord to take temporary possession after tenant’s death until the hier’s claim is dealt with

What is the debate to be had about seisin and right?

Whether or not the common law possession and ownership already existed

When did the common law possession and ownership emerge?

Under Henry II reforms, from the difference between novel disseisin (protecting possession) and the writ of right (protecting title)

What is the debate to be had about Henry II’s reforms?

Whether or not it destroyed the feudal landholding system

What is Milsom’s view on Henry II’s reform effect?

Views the feudal system as one based on lordship rather than tenants having interests like ownership. The real actions gave heirs and tenants entitlement such that the lord’s court was no longer final, thus destroying the feudal world

What is the debate to be had about inheritance before Mort D’ancestor?

whether or not an heir inherited ownership or succeeded by re-grant from the lord

What is covenant?

started as a broad agreement-enforcing action but became limited by the specialty rule

What is the specialty rule?

required a sealed deed, pushing informal agreements out of covenant

What is trespass vi et armis?

dealt with forceful wrongs but struggled with consensual contractual harm

What is trespass on the case?

flexible residual remedy that became the engine of private law development

What is assumpsit?

began as case for wrongful contractual performance and became the general action for informal contract

What is misfeasance?

easy to treat as wrongdoing because D acted badly

What is nonfeasance?

harder because mere failure to act did not look trespassory

Private law areas

contract, tort, land, property, trusts