Sheriffs

Originally sheriffs were elected by the people at a folkmoot. In Anglo-Saxon times the shire-reeve was considered to be equal of a bishop. By 1130, however, sheriffs were considered to be members of a new nobility, and were unlikely to be great barons. Indeed the post of sheriff in a given shire might, in actuality, be in the pocket of the local magnate.

A sheriff's legal duties at that time are described in the Assize of Clarendon (1166)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assize_of_Clarendon

http://www.earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/laws/texts/ass-clar/
The History of England. The Assize of Clarendon, 1166 - Documents in English History.

http://historyofengland.typepad.com/documents_in_english_hist/2012/10/the-assize-of-clarendon-1166.html.

Fiscal duties of a sheriff

Under Henry I, the procedure adopted for the audit of the sheriffs was formalised. This involved the Treasurer drawing up a summons in the form of a writ which was sent to each sheriff, which he was required to answer in person. The Treasurer then called on each sheriff to give a full account of the income in his shire due from the royal demesne lands and from the county farm. The Chancellor then questioned him concerning any debts owed by private persons to the king. The results of the audit were recorded in the Pipe Rolls.

These duties are described in the Dialogus.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/excheq.asp#b2p3 

Inquest of Sheriffs 1170

In 1170 Henry II ordered an inquest to be held of all the activities undertaken by the sheriffs. After the inquest many were sacked and were replaced with more trustworthy persons. The new sheriffs owed their posts to the king.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/isheriffs.asp

http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/content/XXXIX/CLIII/80.full.pdf+html

References

William Alfred Morris (1968). The Medieval English Sheriff to 1300. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-0342-4.

http://www.highsheriffs.com/History.htm

John Impey (20 October 2010). The Office of Sheriff, Shewing Its History and Antiquity: the Manner of Appointing the High Sheriff, His Under Sheriff, and Other Deputies; Together with Their Respective Powers and Duties. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-1-170-81295-2.

http://archive.org/details/practiceofoffice00impe

John Hudson (22 March 2012). The Oxford History of the Laws of England Volume II: 871-1216. Oxford University Press. pp. 507–. ISBN 978-0-19-163003-3.

George Garnett (28 April 1994). "Julia Boorman: The Sheriffs of Henry II and the Significance of 1170". Law and Government in Medieval England and Normandy: Essays in Honour of Sir James Holt. Cambridge University Press. pp. 255–.ISBN 978-0-521-43076-0.

http://conclarendon.blogspot.com/2013/06/currency-in-england-at-time-of-henry-ii.html

Hélène Débax (2008). Vicomtes et vicomtés dans l'Occident médiéval. Presses Univ. du Mirail. pp. 291–. ISBN 978-2-85816-942-9

Judith A. Green; Great Britain. Public Record Office (September 1990). English sheriffs to 1154. H.M.S.O.
 

Punishment by Mutilation

Mutilation as Punishment

Baring-Gould, Sabine (1896). 

Curiosities of olden times: Strange pains and penalties pp 89-101

http://archive.org/stream/curiositiesofold00inbari#page/89/mode/1up

Benjamin Thorpe (1840). Ancient laws and institutes of England  G.E. Eyre and A. Spottiswoode. pp. 49–.

The Laws of William the Conqueror

Ancient Laws and Institutes of England. 1840. pp. 213–.

xvii. Interdicimus eciam ne quis occidatur vel suspendatur pro aliqua culpa, sed enerventur oculi, et abscindantur pedes, vel testiculi, vel manus, ita quod truncus remaneat vivus, in signum prodicionis et nequicie sue: secundum enim quantitatem delicti debet poena maleficis infligi. Ista precepta non sint violata super forisfacturam nostram plenam. Testibus, etc.

xvii. We forbid also that any man be put to death or hanged for any crime, but that he should be have his eyes extricated, and even have his feet cut off, and/or his testicles, and/or his hands, so that all that would be left of him would be a living trunk, as a representation of his acts of treason and villainy: indeed the penalty to criminals should be in accordance with the magnitude of their crimes. These laws are not to be violated, without making full restitution to us. Witnesses, etc..

Benjamin Thorpe (1840). Ancient Laws and Institutes of England: Comprising Laws Enacted Under the Anglo-Saxon Kings from Aethelbirht to Cnut. Cambridge University Press. pp. 494–. ISBN 978-1-108-04514-8.

Rogerus (de Hoveden) (1869). Chronica. Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. pp. 29–.

Select charters and other illustrations of English constitutional history, from the earliest times to the reign of Edward the First.

http://archive.org/stream/cu31924014323202#page/n120/mode/1up/search/conqueror

Ernest F. Henderson  "Statutes of William the Conqueror". Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages. The Minerva Group, Inc. pp. 7–. ISBN 978-1-4102-1544-4.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/will1-lawsb.html

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/lawwill.asp

E.A. Freeman William the Conqueror. http://ia600304.us.archive.org/11/items/williamtheconque01066gut/wlmcn10h.htm

...

Another law bears more than all the personal impress of William. In it he at once, on one side, forestalls the most humane theories of modern times, and on the other sins most directly against them. His remarkable unwillingness to put any man to death, except among the chances of the battle-field, was to some extent the feeling of his age. With him the feeling takes the shape of a formal law. He forbids the infliction of death for any crime whatever. But those who may on this score be disposed to claim the Conqueror as a sympathizer will be shocked at the next enactment. Those crimes which kings less merciful than William would have punished with death are to be punished with loss of eyes or other foul and cruel mutilations. Punishments of this kind now seem more revolting than death, though possibly, now as then, the sufferer himself might think otherwise. But in those days to substitute mutilation for death, in the case of crimes which were held to deserve death, was universally deemed an act of mercy.

...

References

Royal Acts of Mutilation: The Case against Henry I

C. Warren Hollister

Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies

Vol. 10, No. 4 (Winter, 1978), pp. 330-340

Published by: The North American Conference on British Studies

Article Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/4048164



Suzanne Conklin Akbari; Jill Ross (29 January 2013). The Ends of the Body: Identity and Community in Medieval Culture. University of Toronto Press. pp. 177–. ISBN 978-1-4426-6139-4.
WESTERHOF, D. (2013). Amputating the Traitor: Healing the Social Body in Public Executions for Treason in Late Medieval England. In AKBARI S. & ROSS J. (Eds.), The Ends of the Body: Identity and Community in Medieval Culture (pp. 177-192). University of Toronto Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/9781442661387.12

Van Eickels, Klaus

Gendered Violence: Castration and Blinding as Punishment for Treason in Normandy and Anglo-Norman England

Gender & History  Volume 16, Issue 3, pages 588–602, November 2004

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0953-5233.2004.00357.x

John Hudson (22 March 2012). The Oxford History of the Laws of England Volume II: 871-1216. Oxford University Press. pp. 401–. ISBN 978-0-19-163003-3.

Troper

Troper or Book of Tropes

References

The Affair of John Marshal
Elizabeth C. Teviotdale
Revista de Musicología
Vol. 16, No. 2, Del XV Congreso de la Sociedad Internacional de Musicología: Culturas Musicales Del Mediterráneo y sus Ramificaciones: Vol. 2 (1993), pp. 848-855
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20795940

David Knowles (January 1951). Episcopal Colleagues. Cambridge University Press. pp. 12–. ISBN 978-0-521-05493-5.

Trial of the Dean of Scarborough, AD 1158

This was a case which occurred early on in the reign of king Henry II, one which possibly made him want to sit up and reform the way legal cases were handled in the English ecclesiastical courts. It was a documented case about how some dignitaries of the church, deans and archdeacons in particular, who had been allegedly corrupt by accepting large bribes. It was a case where the privilegium fori [clerical immunity] was invoked to prevent the king's chief justiciar, Richard de Luci, from passing sentence against the dean of Scarborough in the king's court for this corruption.

Extract from

Saint Thomas (à Becket) (1845). Opera. Parker. pp. 213–.

Life of St. Thomas Becket by William Fitzstephen

...

Fuit siquidem rex aliquotiens Eboraci ubi ad eum quidam Burgensis suus de Scardeburghe accessit, questus, quod quidam decanus abstulerat ei viginti et duo solidos, uxorem ipsius in capitulis plurimis vexans, et deferens sine alio accusatore ream adulterii: contra quam consuetudinem rex legem prohibitionis ediderat. Jussu regis decanus ille evocatus et coram rege conventus, praesenti archiepiscopo suo, et episcopo Lincolniensi, et Dunelmensi, et Johanne tunc Eboraci thesaurario, postea episcopo Pictavensi, respondit edoctus, quod a diacono quodam et alio laico fuerat illa accusata. Et cum neganti ei sua fuisset adjudicata purgatio, ut mitius tractaretur, hunc virum ejus archidiacono suo dedisse vigintisolidos, et sibi duos. Quum haec decanus ille coram rege testium astipulatione ibi praesentium probare non posset, exegit de eo rex judicium, dicens, quod archidiaconi et decani regni sui habitatoribus hoc modo plus pecuniae per annum extorqueant, quam ipse recipiat. Ierunt cum clero illo et barones ejus ad judicandum. Tandem Johannes thesaurarius dixit sibi videri pecuniam esse reddendam Burgensi, et decanum archiepiscopi sui subjiciendum misericordiae, de officio suo. Ad haec Ricardus de Luci: Quid ergo domino regi judicabitis, in cujus iste incidit constitutionem. Johannes: Nihil, quia clericus est. Ricardus: huic sententiae non adero. Et relictis illis, ad regem cum aliis baronibus rediit. Clerus postmodum cum hac intrat sententia, qua ab eodem Johanne formatore pronunciata: Rex aversus, ad archiepiscopum Theobaldum, diem praestituens, provocavit; et falsam esse sententiam iratus oppido dixit. Sed infra diem, nuntiata sibi morte Gaufridi fratris sui, transfretans appellationem non est persecutus.

...

Translation extracted from

Gourde, Leo T. (1943), "An Annotated Translation of the Life of St. Thomas Becket by William Fitzstephen"

http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1621&context=luc_theses

pp. 56-7

Besides, a long time before, during the time of Archbishop

Theobald, the King had taken offence against the

English Clergy in general, provoked by the insolence of

some of them.

Once when he was at York, a certain burgess

of his from Scarborough came to him with the complaint that

a certain dean had taken from him twenty-two shillings, and was

prosecuting his wife on the least charges, considering her

guilty of adultery without any other accuser [witness]. Against this

custom the King had issued a law of prohibition. At the command

of the King, this dean was removed and summoned to a

meeting before the King in the presence of his own archbishop,

the bishops of Lincoln and Durham and John treasurer of

York, later bishop of Poitiers, where he answered learnedly

that the woman had been accused by a certain Deacon and

another layman. Although at first he denied that any money

had been given him, when put to the torture, that he might

be more amenable, he confessed that the burgess had given

twenty shillings to his archdeacon and two to himself. Since

that dean could not prove those things before the King by the

agreement of the witnesses there present, the King ordered

him to trial, saying that the archdeacons and deans exacted

more money in this way in a year from the people of the Kingdom

than he himself received. Finally John the treasurer

said that it seemed to him that the money should be returned

to the burgess and the dean left to the mercy of his archbishop

as belonging to his office. To this Richard de Luci

said: "Will you not try him by our Lord the King against

whose law this man offended?"  "No," says John, "because

he is a Cleric." Richard answered, "I will not have part in

this sentence," and leaving them he rejoined the King and the

other Lords. When the Cleric was sentenced by a judgment

passed by this same John, the King indignantly summoned

Archbishop Theobald to appear on a certain day and told

the city that the sentence was false. But a day later when

the news came that his brother, Gaufridus [Geoffrey], had died, he

crossed the channel and did not continue his protest.

References

James Craigie Robertson (London 1877). Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (Canonized by Pope Alexander III, AD 1173). Rolls Series Volume 3. Cambridge University Press. pp. 43–5. ISBN 978-1-108-04927-6. 

Mlat.uzh.ch. 2013. 

Willelmus filius Stephani, Vita III S. Thomae Cantuariensis, p17. 

Link

William Henry Dixon (1863). Fasti Eboracenses: Lives of the Archbishops of York. Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts. pp. 236–.

L.B. Radford. (1894) Thomas of London Before His Consecration. CUP Archive.  pp. 193-5.

Thomas of london. CUP Archive. pp. 193–5.

http://archive.org/stream/thomaslondonbef00radfgoog#page/n214/mode/1up

Gourde, Leo T. (1943), "An Annotated Translation of the Life of St. Thomas Becket by William Fitzstephen"

http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1621&context=luc_theses

pp. 56-7

Avrom Saltman (1956). Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury. Greenwood Press. p. 160

Frank Barlow (1990). Thomas Becket. University of California Press. pp. 91–. ISBN 978-0-520-07175-9.

R. C. Van Caenegem (1991). Legal History: A European Perspective. Continuum. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-1-85285-049-4.

Christopher Nugent Lawrence Brooke; Christopher Robert Cheney (1976). Church and Government in the Middle Ages: Essays Presented to C. R. Cheney on His 70th Birthday. Cambridge University Press. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-0-521-21172-7.

G.J. White. Restoration and Reform, 1153-1165. Cambridge University Press. pp. 196–. ISBN 978-1-139-42523-0.

Wilfred Lewis Warren (1 January 1973). Henry II. University of California Press. pp. 434–5. ISBN 978-0-520-02282-9.

Actes Du Colloque International de Sedieres. Editions Beauchesne. pp. 77–. 

 

The Second or Oxford Charter of King Stephen (1136)

Carta Stephani Regis de libertatibus Ecclesiae Anglicanae 
et regni. 

Ego Stephanus Dei gratia assensu cleri et populi in regem 
Anglorum electus, et a Willelmo Cantuariensi archiepiscopo et 
sanctae Romanae ecclesiae legato consecratus, et ab Innocentio 
sanctae Romanae sedis pontifice confirmatus, respectu et 
amore Dei sanctam ecclesiam liberam esse concedo et debitam 
reverentiam illi confirmo. 

Nihil me in ecclesia vel rebus ecclesiasticis simoniace acturum 
vel permissurum esse promitto. Ecclesiasticarum personarum 
et omnium clericorum fet rerum eorum justitiam et potestatem 
et distributionem honorum ecclesiasticorum in manu episco- 
porum esse perhibeo et confirmo. Dignitates ecclesiarum pri- 
vilegiis earum confirmatas, et consuetudincs earum antique 
tenore habitas, inviolate manere statuo et concedo. Omnes 
ecclesiarum possessiones et tenuras quas die ilia habuerunt 
qua Willelmus rex avus meus fuit vivus et mortuus, sine omni 
calumniantium reclamatione, eis liberas et absolutas esse 
concedo. Si quid vero de habitis vel possessis ante mortem 
ejusdem regis, quibus modo careat ecclesia, deinceps repetierit, 
indulgentiae et dispensation! meae, vel restituendum vel 
discutiendum, reserve. Quaecunque vero post mortem ipsius 
regis liberalitate regum vel largitione principum, oblatione vel 
comparatione, vel qualibet transmutatione fidelium eis collata 
sunt, confirmo. Pacem et justitiam me in omnibus facturum, 
et pro posse meo conservaturum eis promitto. 

Forestas quas Willelmus avus meus et Willelmus avunculus 
meus instituerunt et habuerunt mihi reservo. Ceteras omnes, 
quas rex Henricus superaddidit, ecclesiis et regno quiet as reddo 
et concede. 

Si quis episcopus vel abbas vel alia ecclesiastica persona ante 
mortem suam rationabiliter sua distribuerit vel distribuenda 
statuerit, firmum manere concedo. Si vero morte praeoccupa- 
tus fuerit, pro salute animae ejus ecclesiae consilio eadem fiat 
distributio. Dum vero sedes propriis pastoribus vacuae fuerint, 
ipsas et earum possessiones omnes in manu et custodia clerico- 
rum vel proborum hominum ejusdem ecclesiae committam, 
donee pastor canonice substituatur. 

Omnes exactiones et injustitias et mescheningas, sive per 
vicecomites vel per alios quoslibet male inductas, funditus 
exstirpo. 

Bonas leges et antiquas et just as consuetudines, in murdris 
et placitis et aliis causis, observabo, et observari praecipio, et 
constituo. Haec omnia concedo et confirmo salva regia et 
justa dignitate mea. 

Testibus W. Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, et Hugone Rotho- 
magensi archiepiscopo, et Henrico Wintoniensi episcopo, et 
Rogero Sarisbiriensi episcopo, et A. Lincolniensi episcopo, 
et Nigello Eliensi episcopo, et Evrardo Norwicensi episcopo, et 
Simone Wigornensi episcopo, et Bernardo episcopo de Sancto 
David, et Audoeno Ebroicensi episcopo, et Ricardo Abrincensi 
episcopo, et Roberto Herefordensi episcopo, et Johanne Roue- 
cestrensi episcopo, et Athelulfo Carlolensi episcopo ; et Rogero 
cancellario ; et Henrico nepote regis ; et Roberto comite 
Gloecestriae, et Willelmo comite de Warenna, et Rannulfo 
comite Cestriae, et Roberto comite de Warewic ; et Roberto 
de Ver, et Milone de Gloecestria, et Brientio filio Comitis, et 
Roberto de Oilli, conestabulis ; et Willelmo Martel, et Hugone 
Bigot, et Hunfrido de Buhun, et Simone de Belcamp, dapiferis ; 
et Willelmo de Albiniaco, et Eudone Martel pincernis ; et 
Roberto de Ferreriis, et Willelmo Peverel de Notingeham ; 
et Simone de Saintliz ; et Willelmo de Albamarla, et Pagano 
filio Johannis, et Hamone de Sancto Claro, et Ilberto de Laceio. 

Apud Oxeneforde, anno ab Incarnatione Domini MC- 
XXXVI, sed regni mei primo. (Statutes of the Realm 
Charters of Liberties, p. 3. Will Malmesb., Hist. Nov.

Translation

Second Charter of Stephen

Statutes of the Realm as in Gee and Hardy p. 66

I STEPHEN, by the grace of God and the assent of the clergy and people elected king of the English, and consecrated by William, archbishop of Canterbury and legate of the Holy Roman Church, and confirmed by Innocent, pontiff of the Holy Roman See, from regard and love to God, do grant holy Church to be free and confirm due reverence to her. 

I promise that I will not do nor allow any simony in the Church or in church affairs. I permit and confirm justice and power over ecclesiastical persons and all clerks and their effects, and the distribution of ecclesiastical goods to be in the hands of the bishops. The dignities of churches confirmed by their privileges, and their customs had of ancient continuance, I ordain and grant to remain inviolate. All the possessions and holdings of churches which they had on that day when William the king, my grandfather, was alive and dead, I grant to them to be free and absolute without any appeal from claimants. But if the Church shall hereafter seek to regain any of the things held or possessed before the death of the same king which the Church has no longer, I reserve them for my indulgence and dispensation for restoration and for consideration. But I confirm whatever has been bestowed upon them since the death of this same king, by the liberality of kings or the gift of great men, by presentation or acquisition, or by any exchange of the faithful. I promise that I will perform peace and justice in all things, and will maintain these for them as far as I can. I reserve for myself the forests which William my grandfather, and William my uncle established and had. All the others which King Henry further added I give back and grant to the churches and the kingdom without molestation. If any bishop or abbot or other ecclesiastical person shall, before his death, reasonably devise or intend to devise his goods, I grant it to remain firm. But if he shall be overtaken by death let the same devise take place with the advice of the Church for the health of his soul. Moreover, whilst sees shall be without their proper pastors, these and all their possessions I will commit to the hand and custody of the clerks or good men of the same church, until a pastor be canonically appointed to succeed. I entirely abolish all exactions, and injuries, and miskennings wrongly introduced, whether by sheriffs or by any other. I will observe, and command and ordain to be observed, the good laws and ancient and just customs in murders and pleas and other causes. All these things I grant and confirm saving my royal and just dignity. 

Witness: W. Archbishop of Canterbury, Hugh Archbishop of Rouen, and Henry Bishop of Winchester, and Roger Bishop of Salisbury, and A. Bishop of Lincoln, and Nigel Bishop of Ely, and Everard Bishop of Norwich, and Simon Bishop of Worcester, and Bernard Bishop of Saint David's, and Owen Bishop of Evreux, Richard Bishop of Avranches, Robert Bishop of Hereford, John Bishop of Rochester, Athelwulf Bishop of Carlisle, and other lay signatories. At Oxford, in the year 1136 from the Lord's Incarnation, and the first of my reign.

  
This charter, in particular, states that Pope Innocent II formally confirmed Stephen's annointment  as king. Perhaps one reason why Henry II had to wait till Stephen died in order to take up the kingship.

The promises king Stephen made to the Church might be considered to be worthless in the event that king Henry II had came to power and assumed the kingship in 1154, and that king Stephen's direct heir Eustace was not able to take up his appointment as king and had died anyway having been deposed. King Henry's rule had begun [as the direct descendant of Henry I] and no one was going to question his authority.

References

Documents Illustrative of English Church History p. 66- Gee and Hardy 

http://www.earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/laws/texts/st-eccl/

Oll.libertyfund.org. Online Library of Liberty - II.: THE SECOND OR OXFORD CHARTER OF STEPHEN.1 (1136.) - Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John, with an Historical Introduction.

http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=338&chapter=49141&layout=html&Itemid=27

Historyofengland.typepad.com. The Charter of Liberties of Stephen - Documents in English History.

http://historyofengland.typepad.com/documents_in_english_hist/2012/10/the-charter-of-liberties-of-stephen.html

En.wikipedia.org. The Anarchy - Wikipedia: New Regime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anarchy#New_regime_.281135.E2.80.9338.29

England; England. Sovereign (1066-1087 : William I) (1998). Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820674-3.

Archive.org. Regesta regum anglo-normannorum, 1066-1154

Volume 1: http://archive.org/details/regestaregumangl01grea

Volume 2: http://archive.org/details/regestaregumangl02grea

Volume 3: http://archive.org/details/regestaregumangl03grea

The constitutional history and constitution of the Church of England p.466 : Felix Makower

Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne - Wikipedia

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Eustace - Wikisource

The Charter of Liberties of Stephen – The History of England

Civil Justice

Laws belonging to King's Justice

England (1840). Ancient Laws and Institutes of England: Comprising Laws Enacted Under the Anglo-Saxon Kings from Æthelbirht to Cnut, with an English Translation of the Saxon; the Laws Called Edward the Confessor's; the Laws of William the Conqueror, and Those Ascribed to Henry the First; Also, Monumenta Ecclesiastica Anglicana, from the Seventh to the Tenth Century; and the Ancient Latin Version of the Anglo-Saxon Laws (Leges Regis Henrici Primi X. De Jure Regis ed.). G. E. Eyre and A. Spottiswoode. printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. pp. 518–.

Curia Regis

[also known as aula regis, curia nostra or curia magna]

The Norman Curia Regis was very similar in constitution, function and purpose to the Anglo-Saxon Witan. It was "the supreme central court where the business of government in all its branches was transacted." It was a legislative, an administrative and a judicial body.

The King's Justice a the superior court in England was dealt with in the King's Court or Aula Regis, sometimes known as the Curia Regis or later as the Court of the King's Bench, because its records ran in the name of the king (coram rege = in the presence of the king), and because in former times the sovereign often sat in judgment in person.

The innovations of William the Conqueror and his successors having reduced the old local Anglo-Saxon tribunals to comparative insignificance, the whole judicial authority in England, was concentrated in the king's Aula Regis.

All process issuing out of the court in the king's name was returnable "ubicunque fuerimus in Anglia" [ wheresoever we shall be in England], the style of the return of writs in the court of king’s or queen’s bench; it being in theory a movable court, attendant upon the sovereign’s person.

The Curia Regis generally met three times a year, at the three great ecclesiastical festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost [Whitsun]. The Norman Curia Regis was composed of all the kings tenants-in-chief, who held per baroniam, all the principal officials of the royal government officers of his household, and anyone else the king chose to summon. It met wherever the king happened or chose to be. Writs of summons for these three particular occasions were not necessary.  For any other occasion writs of summons to attend the Curia Regis were issued by the king personally to all barons [bishops and magnates] when they needed to appear. The king always wore his crown on these occasions.

There were large or full assemblies of the Curia Regis comprising all the principal landowners in the country, called the Magnum Concilium. Or a much smaller assembly, simply called the Curia Regis of just the royal officials [sometimes dubbed as the Lesser Curia Regis], typically the chief justiciar, the chancellor, the treasurer, the chamberlain, the constable, the marshall,  and the king's justices, and any other personal advisers. The king presided over his curia, as he was considered to be the fount of all justice in the land.

A History of English Law 

The Curia Regis was an itinerant court of justice as Henry II was an itinerant monarch. the Curai Regis was originally the personal court which the king attended in person. Wherever he went he was the law. Wherever he could not be an itinerant justices could hold a court in his name, in coram regis.

The chief justiciar was the lieutenant or viceroy of the king when he was absent from England. The postholder's duties included direction of the whole judicial and financial arrangements of the kingdom. He was President of the Exchequer. Litigants were summoned were issued to appear in court “before the king or before his chief justice ” [coram ipso rege vel capitali justiciario suo], dependent on whether the king was in the country and was personally going to preside over the proceedings, or not. The term justiciar implies a level of administrative jurisdiction over a given area.

The chancellor, who was generally always an ecclesiastic, was keeper of the Royal Seal. Chief of the royal chaplains, charged with the administration of the royal revenue deriving from vacant benefices, he was generally secretary of state for all departments. He drew up and sealed the royal writs. He was a prominent member of the Exchequer division of the Curia Regis. The Royal Seal itself was kept for safekeeping in the Treasury.

When the king needed to enact new laws, the full Curia Regis [Magnum Consilium] was summoned and its counsel and consent sought. It did not necessarily have any special power to overrule or oppose the king's will, but acted in an advisory capacity. Henry I consulted it, for example, whenever bishops were to be dismissed or appointed. As a feudal court it exercised jurisdiction over the magnates and prelates of the kingdom. The members of the court acted as judges in this respect. When it passed sentence, it was the Chief Justiciar who read out the decision of the court, not the king.

Henry II sent justices on circuits around the country from county to county as itinerant justices [justitiae errantes]  (later called justiciarii itinerantes or justices in eyre).  From quite early on in the reign king Henry II there are records of pleas held on circuit by Richard Lucy the chief justiciar, by Henry of Essex the constable, and also by Thomas Becket the chancellor. The visitation of the counties by these itinerant justices eventually became more systematic and their circuits formalised.

The courts held by these itinerant justices on circuit were also called curia regis, as they extensions of the king's authority, but were later to be distinguished from the principal or central capitalis curia regis. Westminster eventually became the permanent home for the latter.

Aula Regis was later known as The King's Bench, as it was held in Westminster Hall on benches.

Royal Courts [Curiae Regis] stood above the assembies of freemen.

In theory everyman's [every vassal normal judge was his lord. The denial of justice was a crime. Justice and appeals rose through the various levels of homage. An appeal essentially was "suing" the judge of the lower court.

The customary mode of proof was trial by battle.

Great Seal of Henry II

Justices in Eyre

justiciarii totius Angliae = Justiciars/Justices/Judges in eyre (All England)

capitalis justicarius = Chief Justiciar

The Origins of the General Eyre in the Reign of Henry I
William T. Reedy, Jr.
Speculum
Vol. 41, No. 4 (Oct., 1966), pp. 688-724
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Medieval Academy of America
DOI: 10.2307/2852319
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2852319

References

Curia Regis [King's or Royal Court]

The Curia Regis was multifunctional: it was a legislative, an administrative, and a judicial body.

En.wikisource.org. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lord Chief Justice - Wikisource, the free online library.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Lord_Chief_Justice

Project Gutenberg: 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1911. Curia Regis. 

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38709/38709-h/38709-h.htm#ar86

Archive.org. 2013. Stubbs: The constitutional history of England: Curia Regis p. 387
http://archive.org/stream/constitutionalh27stubgoog#page/n399/mode/1up

Mrs. J. R. Green (1892). Henry the Second. Chapter IV The First Reforms: Library of Alexandria. pp. 86–. ISBN 978-1-4655-2279-5.

http://goo.gl/3kGiEl

Benjamin Thorpe (1840). Ancient Laws and Institutes of England. Commissioners on the Public Records.

Procedure in the Feudal Curia Regis

George Burton Adams

Columbia Law Review  Vol. 13, No. 4, Apr., 1913 

pp 277-93

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1110436
Procedure in the Feudal Curia Regis : Adams, George Burton - Internet Archive

Egbert Türk (31 December 1976). NUGAE CURIALIUM: LE REGNE D'HENRI II. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-03378-7.

The Descendants of the Curia Regis
by George Burton Adams
The American Historical Review, Vol. 13, No. 1, Oct., 1907
pp. 11-15
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1834884

Christopher Nugent Lawrence Brooke; Christopher Robert Cheney (1976). Church and Government in the Middle Ages:. Caernegem: Public Prosecution of Crime in Twelfth Century England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 41–.ISBN 978-0-521-21172-7.

Exchequer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogus_de_Scaccario

Avalon.law.yale.edu.The Avalon Project : The Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer. circa 1180. 

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/excheq.asp

Richard fitz Neal and the Dialogus de Scaccario

H. G. Richardson

The English Historical Review

Vol. 43, No. 170 (Apr., 1928), pp. 161-171

Published by: Oxford University Press

Article Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/551999

Geoffrey Gilbert (1758). A treatise on the Court of Exchequer. Lintot. pp. 1–.

Reginald Lane Poole (1912). The Exchequer in the Twelfth Century: The Ford Lectures Delivered in the University of Oxford in Michaelmas Term, 1911. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-58477-658-1.

http://archive.org/details/exchequerintwelf00pooluoft

Tout, T. F. (1920) Chapters in the administrative history of mediaeval England : the wardrobe, the chamber, and the small seals.

http://archive.org/details/chaptersinadmin01tout

Hundred Courts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_(county_division)#Hundred_courts

Common law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law#Medieval_English_common_law

Readings on the history and system of the common law

by Pound, Roscoe

https://archive.org/details/readingsonhistor00poun

 

Reginald Allen Brown; R. Allen Brown (1982). Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies IV, 1981. Paul Hyams: The Common Law and the French Connections: Boydell & Brewer. pp. 77–. ISBN 978-0-85115-161-8.

Forest Law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_forest

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_International_Encyclop%C3%A6dia/Forest_Laws

Archive.org.  Stubbs - The constitutional history of England: The Royal Forests.
http://archive.org/stream/constitutionalh27stubgoog#page/n414/mode/1up

Studies and notes supplementary to Stubbs' Constitutional history (1908)

Volume 2

by Ch. Petit Dutaillis

The Forest.

http://archive.org/details/studiesnotessupp02peti

Sheriff

http://www.highsheriffs.com/History.htm

John Impey (20 October 2010). The Office of Sheriff, Shewing Its History and Antiquity: the Manner of Appointing the High Sheriff, His Under Sheriff, and Other Deputies; Together with Their Respective Powers and Duties. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-1-170-81295-2.

http://archive.org/details/practiceofoffice00impe

Justices in Eyre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_in_Eyre

Kent Archaeology: Justices in Eyre. 2013. 

http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/digiarchive/ColinFlight/eyres-intro.pdf

Bracton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_de_Bracton

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Henry_de_Bracton

Henry de Bracton . De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-05165-1.

Henry de Bracton . De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae. Cambridge University Press. pp. 7–. ISBN 978-1-108-05167-5.

Henry de Bracton . De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-05169-9.

http://archive.org/stream/bractondelegibu00histgoog#page/n7/mode/2up

http://archive.org/stream/bractondelegibu01histgoog#page/n7/mode/2up

http://archive.org/stream/bractondelegibu02histgoog#page/n7/mode/2up

BRACTON ON KINGSHIP REVISITED
Cary J. Nederman
History of Political Thought
Vol. 5, No. 1 (Spring 1984), pp. 61-77
Published by: Imprint Academic Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/26212396

General

Sir Matthew Hale (1820). The History of the Common Law of England: And An Analysis of the Civil Part of the Law. Henry Butterworth. pp. 7–.

Frederick Pollock (Sir)); Frederic William Maitland (1966). The History of English Law. CUP Archive.

The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I, vol. 1

The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I, vol. 2

William Holdsworth: A History of English Law:

Volume 1:  http://archive.org/details/ahistoryenglish01holdgoog

Volume 2:  http://archive.org/details/historyofenglish02holduoft

Volume 3:  http://archive.org/details/historyofengl3rd03holduoft

Archive.org. Chapters in the administrative history of mediaeval England : the wardrobe, the chamber, and the small seals : Tout, Thomas Frederick, 1855-1929 . 

Volume 1:  http://archive.org/details/chaptersinadmin01tout

Reeves' History of the English Law (1879)

Volume 1: Chapter II p. 225-

http://archive.org/details/reeveshistoryen03finlgoog

Melville Madison Bigelow (1974). Placita Anglo-Normannica: Law Cases from William I to Richard I, Preserved in Historical Records. Georg Olms Verlag. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-3-487-40534-6.
http://archive.org/details/placitaanglonor00bigegoog

History of Law Blog. 2011. The Kings household and the administration of government.
http://www.historyoflaw.co.uk/kings-household-administration-of-government/

William Stubbs (1874)

The constitutional history of England

Volume 1. p. 337-

Chapter XI: Administration during the Norman Period

http://archive.org/stream/constitutionalh27stubgoog#page/n349/mode/1up

Chief Justiciar

For the first twenty-five years of Henry

II's reign the office was held by Richard de Lucy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justiciar

A high judicial officer, baron and special magistrate, who presided over the Aula Regis of the Norman kings, and who was also the principal minister of state, the second man in the kingdom, and, by virtue of his office, guardian of the realm in the king's absence. 

Law Dictionary Definition of CHIEF JUSTICIAR (Black's Law Dictionary)

The Chief Justiciar presided over the King's Court of the Exchequer, assisted by 5 puisne or junior barons.

King's Bench

The History of the Court of King's Bench

By George A. Bonner 

Famous cases and trials

1088 Trial of William of Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_de_St-Calais

1095 Trial of Anselm at Rockingham Castle
Heritage-history.com. Heritage History: Anselm by E. M. Wilmot-Buxton.
http://www.heritage-history.com/?c=read&author=wilmotbuxton&book=anselm&story=rockingham

Archive.org.Saint Anselm: Meeting at Rockingham.
http://archive.org/stream/MN5110ucmf_1#page/n247/mode/2up

Martin Rule (1883)
The Council of Rockingham
https://archive.org/stream/lifeandtimessta00ansegoog#page/n58/mode/2up 

1157 Battle Abbey case

Robert B. Patterson (1 January 1995). Studies in Medieval History 1994. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 7–. ISBN 978-0-85115-604-0.

1164 Trial of Thomas Becket, archbichop of Canterbury at Northampton

Pleas of the crown (placita coronae)

Pleas of the crown (placita coronae): the punishment of crimes for which the crown has/had a monopoly of the justice in and reserved the trying of cases for

The prosecution of serious crimes [typically felonies]  was fundamental to the holding of crown pleas, but the latter’s scope extended further than that, to all sorts of royal rights and responsibilities, which were continually expanded.  Defining them as `rights which the king of England has in his land solely and over all men’, the early twelfth-century treatise Leges Henrici Primi listed as crown pleas such crimes as treason, serious theft, murder, counterfeiting coinage, arson and rape, along with the harbouring of those who committed these offences, and also the infringement of royal rights like treasure trove and forest law.

Immediately after 1066 crown pleas were usually administered by the sheriff of a given county, often an important baron, who presided in the county court along with the bishop and the earl. Later the latter two were removed from the king's courts leaving on the sheriff as sole judge. Later justices appointed and sent by Westminster on eyre replaced the sheriiff.

References

Magna Carta chapter 24

magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk-read-magna_carta_1215-Clause_24

Leges Henrici Primi - Wikipedia

Matthew Hale; George Wilson; Thomas Dogherty (1800). The History of the Pleas of the Crown: In Two Volumes. Payne.

Hundred Court v. Shire Court

The Shire Court tended to act in cases in which the Hundred Court was not competent particularly in cases which were inimical to the public peace, [offences against the King's Peace]. The Shire Court comprised a jury of freemen. The Shire Court had responsibility to determine the customary law in the territory of the shire. Shires often followed the boundaries of the different tribes or kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. Later the representatives from the freemen of the shire formed the basis of the House of Commons in Parliament.

Maitland, F. W. “The Suitors of the County Court.” The English Historical Review, vol. 3, no. 11, 1888, pp. 417–421. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/546609. 

Round, J. H. “THE SUITORS OF THE COUNTY COURT.” The Archaeological Review, vol. 2, no. 1, 1888, pp. 66–69. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24708704.