Lincolnshire Voice

William I
In 1066, Duke William of Normandy invaded England and killed King Harold, at the place which is still known as Battle. He chose to keep in place the Laws of Edward the Confessor (which were Alfred’s Laws) rather than introduce laws from his home country of France. The longevity of the Legal System created by Alfred the Great shows it to be a success.

Figure 2: The coronation of William the Conquerer

William Rufus
William II, known as William Rufus, believed he ruled by divine right and could do whatever he liked, as a result, he ruled outside the confines of English law. William Rufus was shot through the heart with an arrow - this was put down as an accident.

Figure 3: Henry I
In 1100, when King Henry I came to the throne, he believed he could rule by divine right. He was very quickly disillusioned by the Barons and forced to issue the Charter of Liberties, a restatement of Alfred’s Law. English Monarchs are also subject to the law of the land.

King John
In 1213, King John (a very bad king) was having a great deal of trouble with the Barons and the population generally. He had been using foreign mercenaries to suppress the population and now feared for his safety.

Figure 4: John kneeling before the Pope's Legate

John gave England to Archbishop Pandolph, the Papal Legate, receiving it back again to rule as a vassal King to the Pope for payment of 1000 marks a year. John also took on the mantle of a crusader so that anyone who attacked him would face excommunication.

Figure 5: Rage of John after signing the Magna Carta

The Great Charta 1215
John was forced to meet with the Barons and thousands of the freemen of England at Runneymede in 1215. Here, he was forced to sign the Great Charta (also known as the Magna Charta) which was a restatement of the Charter of Liberties of Henry I (yet another restatement of Alfred’s Laws. The Magna Charta was made by all the Estates of England; the King, the Barons, and the Freemen of England and therefore it can only be undone by all the Estates of England meeting again.

Consequently, it is beyond the reach of Parliament. King John died in 1216, his son King Henry III was a minor and he had appointed as his guardian the Earl of Pembroke, one of those who had supported King John in surrendering England to the Pope. On reaching the age where he was able to rule in his own right King Henry III informed the pope that he, Henry was the sole arbiter of all things to do with the church in England, and that he answered directly to God andnot the pope. Henry stopped paying the 1000 marks a year to the pope and rejected the popes claim that he was King to Rome. The Earl of Pembroke was with the others who had assisted King John in surrendering England to the pope and were tried as traitors and dealt with according to law. It must be said that the vast majority of the Barons refused to accept the Popes authority.

Early constitutional legal rulings
Henry III
In Henry III reign, a man called Chief Justice Henry de Bracton was on the King’s Bench. Bracton’s rulings are so important that they are still taught at law schools today. He said:

“That the King is beneath no man, but he is beneath God, and rules England as God’s Lieutenant and according to Gods laws. And he is beneath the law for it is by the law that he becomes King”.

This judgment imposes constraints on the sovereign so that they cannot act unjustly.

Another of Bracton’s rulings is:
“The laws of England, having been approved by those who use them, and having been confirmed by the Oaths of Kings, cannot be changed or disposed of without the common consent of those by whose council and consent they were promulgated.”

For those who are unaware; our forefathers established the principle that the English people must approve any changes to our laws, and this principle has been handed down to us.

In England we have the Rule of Law; unjust laws are not laws.

In 1345, Chief Justice Stonor said, “Law is that which is right.”

In the second half of the same century, Judge Hilary said, “We will not and we cannot change the Ancient usages.”
Chief Justice Beresford said, “You should not only look at the letter of the law, but at the spirit of the law.”

Beresford also said, “There is no such thing as a bad law for if it is bad it is not law.”

It is to Judges like these that those good sound principles espoused by the common law of England owes so much.

Englishmen have had just cause to feel safe under English Law. King Edward III issued The Statute of Treason Provisors and Praemunire(1351). These anti-Papal laws were designed to keep foreign interference out of England. The ultimate legal defence of Crown and realm depended on the treason law.