This blog (which looks only at law in England UK) starts more or less at the time of the Conquest, and moves forward slowly in time. With a few jumps back and forward from time to time.
I have now worked my way through the Norman period (although I will refer back to it from time to time and may revisit) and am now looking at the time of the Angevin Kings (the early Plantagenets).
However I have added the dates of later monarchs, and further dates will be added when these periods are covered in the blog. The dates not covered yet by the blog are showed in grey.
The Normans The Plantagenets
Looking back of over the Norman period and considering what impact they had on the English legal system and its development [more]
Westminster Hall has over the past 900 years held a central place in the life of the nation. It was built by the Norman King William Rufes in 1097 [more]
The Cadfael books cast a light on law in the reign of Stephen as well as the political history of the times. This book post explains [more]
Ordeals by fire and water and trial by battle - how they were used and descriptions of the events [more]
Introducing the office of Sheriff, an important one in English legal history. We will be looking at the various functions Sheriffs perform as we move… [more]
There is a big difference between law now and in Norman times which this post covers, along with some comments on the similarity of lawyers through th… [more]
Looking at how England was divided for administration before the conquest and the three levels of courts - local, seigniorial and the Kings Court [more]
Taking a look at Henry I, what he was like and what his reign meant for the country. Henry I was a strong, if sometimes brutal king, but this was wha… [more]
The Doomsday Book has been called Britain s greatest treasure. It is certainly unique and has been a goldmine for historians for centuries. So that… [more]
In this post, I am going to take a look at the lower end of the feudal system. The end that you and I would most likely have been a part of. The medie… [more]
Taking a quick look at the different levels of society and their names. If you want to know about Knight Service, Socage and Serjeanty, this is the p… [more]
‘Demesne’ is the word for land a lord keeps for himself. This post looks at the land kept by the King, and what he did with it. In particular we… [more]
Here we look at the ‘head lessors’, the Barons. There was a massive change at this level of society after the conquest, as William gave large tra… [more]
This was the very first history post, and looks at the word ‘landlord’ and what it means, and also at how the system of holding land in these earl… [more]
In my last post I said I was going to be looking the new forms of action developed by Henry II, but … [more]
Henry II was responsible for many important legal innovations. For example land disputes now had to… [more]