History of Medieval England - Thursday 6th Period:Discussion 5: Royal Infighting in the 12th Century

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

Professor Pierson stands at the front of the class and launches right into the discussion...

[[OOC: OCD threads are coming up!!]]

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Comments

Re: QUESTION 2: Henry I and the growth of English Common Law

[aka-vala.livejournal.com]

Vala couldn't help but be intertested in the topic. "So how did it work in practice with all of these changing laws? I mean, I'd think there would be issures with 'grandfathering' and loopholes and such until things were finally settled.

So did people get away with more, or did they suddenly get hit with being tried under new laws or systems they hadn't had before?"

Re: QUESTION 2: Henry I and the growth of English Common Law

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

"It was more a case that people were being held accountable for things they had gotten away with before. If they might suffer judgement for something that they had been able to get away with before, it was balanced by the people who were receiving justice for a crime they had had no redress against.

"Generally, what the king said went. So if he said that, for instance, wearing blue fabric unless you were of a specific social class was illegal, you weren't allowed to wear blue fabric, even if you'd been doing it for years. Even if you were the Tick. But flexibility was inherent in the system in that the people enforcing the laws were locals who knew the people involved. If they knew that Crazy Joe was colourblind and thus could not tell between blue and red, they wouldn't prosecute him for wearing blue. For example."

Re: QUESTION 2: Henry I and the growth of English Common Law

[aka-vala.livejournal.com]

"Hmmmm...," she nods. "O.k., so working the local loopholes and discretion would be the way to go keep it from being too harsh on people."