Kings, Barons and Justices
The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England

A study of two important and related pieces of thirteenth-century English legislation.

Paul Brand (Author)

9780521025850, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 April 2006

536 pages, 8 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 0.782 kg

'This work is built upon a deep understanding of a very substantial, and often intractable, archive: indeed, few, if any, previous commentators have had such a command of the primary material as Brand … never before has the historical background to crucial developments in English common law been so revealingly and sensitively elucidated … richly rewarding … a fundamental examination of the medieval legislative process and a major contribution to our understanding of politics and law in thirteenth-century England.' Brian Golding, University of Southampton

This book is a study of two important and related pieces of thirteenth-century English legislation - the Provisions of Westminster of 1259 and the Statute of Marlborough of 1267 - and is the first on any of the statutes of this period of major legislative change. The Provisions of Westminster were the first major legislation enacted in England after Magna Carta, when Henry III surrendered control of government to a baronial council with an agenda of institutional reform. The Provisions were revised and reissued by the king in 1263, and a further revision in 1267 produced the Statute of Marlborough. Exceptionally good surviving documentation is used to follow the evolution of the individual clauses from initial suggestions for reform, through a series of drafts, to the various versions of the final texts.

Introduction
Part I. Politics and the Legislative Reform of the Common Law: 1. The making of the Provisions of Westminster: the process of drafting and their political context
2. The making of the Provisions of Westminster: the social and legal context and the evolution of the individual clauses (i)
3. The making of the Provisions of Westminster: the social and legal context and the evolution of the individual clauses (ii)
4. Enforcement of the Provisions of Westminster during the initial stages of their existence, 1259–63
5. The revision and reissuing of the Provisions, 1263–4
6. The revised Provisions in action, 1263–7
7. The final revision and reissue of the Provisions of Westminster: the Statute of Marlborough of 1267
Part II. Beyond Politics: The Enforcement and Interpretation of the Statute of Marlborough in the Courts, 1267–1307: 8. Contra formam feoffamenti: the statutory action for tenants contesting liability to suit of court after 1267
9. Other mechanisms for the enforcement of chapter nine
other reforms affecting the lord-tenant relationship
10. Reforms in the criminal justice system
11. Reforms in the procedures of the Royal Courts
12. The extension of existing remedies
13. Enforcing the accountability of socage guardians
14. Controlling the use of distraint
15. Remedying abuses in the operation of local courts
16. Conclusions
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]