HIST-102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 35: Oblique Order
18 Nov 2020
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Effective central government had declined under his predecessor stephen (1135 1154) to the point that local barons and sheriffs had become essentially laws unto themselves. It took henry nearly twenty years to bring them to heel; by 1170 he had suspended from office all the sheriffs in the realm and conducted a kingdom wide inquest into popular grievances against local officials. He increased the corps of itinerant justices who traveled throughout england holding public inquests and hearing appeals. Royal justice was fairer, quicker, and less costly than the seigneurial courts of the local barons. judicial functions declined accordingly just as their military functions were increasingly taken over by salaried common armies. Henry also regularized the use of trials-by-jury and did away with the old rural tradition of trial-by-combat. If sufficient evidence were brought before the grand jury that an individual had in fact broken the law, then the jury issued a verdict which required the accused person to stand trial.
