Crime and Punishment

Blood feuds were an ancient form of justice whereby a family would be allowed still a member of someone else's family they'd killed one of their own. This was retribution based justice, but in reality justice wasn't really served as it was just a continuing line of blood and death. this was a relatively lawless way to deal with crime. It became outlawed by the Anglo-Saxons.

Tithings were groups of men over 12 and if one of them committed a crime every single member of The Tithing would have to pay a fine. Established loyalty between groups and formed a deterrent committing crimes. It was quite a successful way of managing law enforcement as it saw that who would be responsible for each other. Tithings were a successful way for people to police themselves.

The hue and cry was a system the stated that if someone saw a crime committed they would be responsible for raising the alarm. It was a public police force before police force existed. All the people in the village were then responsible for chasing the person caught them or drove them out of the town.

When you were tried by the jury, you were tried by a jury of your peers. this is a very popular method that we still use today, however nowadays it wouldn't be made up of people that you know. You could ask people to swear your innocence if you were a highly rated member of society.

There were four different methods of trial by ordeal the Anglo-Saxon era. You could be tried by hot water, tried by hot iron, tried by cold water, or tried by blessed bread. this was a method that was supposedly judged by God. If you were innocent, it was deemed that God would heal your wounds that you gained from the trial. If you were not innocent you would sustain your injuries or become infected. Although this wasn't a very reliable methods, it often weeded out two people from the innocent as the guilty people wouldn't go through of it [ because the Anglo-Saxons were extremely religious ] . People who were lying about committing the crime often wouldn't go through with it. Trial by blessed bread was for priests only and didn't involve harming the suspect.

Wergild made fines payable to a person if a crime was committed against them. For example, if you cut off someone's ear you would be expected to pay two shillings compensation. There were flaws in this justice system as peasants were worth less than a king or queen etc. Wergild was outlawed by the Norman's, as King William made all fines payable to himself.

They were designed to be a deterrent. Corporal punishment was common including things like mutilation or whipping. Fines were also common but they were to be paid directly to the person who was injured / been stolen from. Capital punishment was also common for things such as murders and although hanging was the main method, occasionally things like beheading where used as well.

The Battle of Hastings was on the 14th of October 1066. William the Conqueror became king.

Castles were built for the first time to control the people and the land. Tells people that the Normans were in charge and gave them a sense of power over the English people. Norman French became the language, was another way of exerting French control over English people as they could understand neither Latin or French. the majority of the Anglo-Saxon punishments were kept they actually worked. Another reason for this was that they were too hard to replace.

It is important to remember that these was still not police. It would be an unpaid volunteer leave the Hue and Cry. Similar to this, sheriffs were introduced. They were royal officials who went after serious criminals who committed a crime such as murder or ****. We still have them today but under a different name such as detectives or law enforcement control. They would have a posse to work with.

Trial by combat was another form of trial by ordeal, introduced by the French. The accuser and the accused would fight until Death, and it was said that God would be on the winner's side . Whoever won the fight would get their Justice.

Church courts were a type of court that was only meant for the clergy. A lot more lenient than normal courts, as there was no death penalty. If you could read the neck verse in Latin (thing in the Bible), you could be tried by the church courts instead, better for you as it meant that you couldn't killed.

The forest laws were exceptionally unpopular laws brought in by the Normans.

Trees were not allowed to be cut down,

bows/dogs banned,

hunting of deer was banned

all land was under control of the King.

This was another way for the Normans to send the message that they were in control of the country.

The Normans ended were wergilds and replace them with fines. The murdrum fine was a fine for murdering the French, and it placed the Normans at a higher value than the Anglo-Saxons. All fines were made payable to the King.

If you committed a crime and fled to sanctuary [ a church ] then you can hide in there for 40 days. In his 40 days you have a chance to learn the neck verse so that you could be tried in church courts. At the end of your 40 days you had to either leave the country or you could go to court. Sanctuary demonstrated how powerful the church was in making decisions about law enforcement. Removed by Henry VIII.

A lot of law enforcement stayed the same. Something that changed was that stocks started being used for people who couldn't pay their fines and pillories were used for those who cheated or sold rotten goods. Intimidation became a common factor for punishment as it was thought to make the person look bad.

Justice's of the Peace were local Magistrates. They dealt with minor crimes, though 4 times a year all JPs looked at serious cases. Royal judges dealt with crime such as treason or serial killers.

Witchcraft was not necessarily a new crime, but superstition jumps a lot in this time. Some other laws became harder such as laws relating to treason and vagabondage. Anyone who commits treason was to be hung, drawn and quartered as seen in the case of Guy Fawkes.

There was a lot of religious change in this time period. Henry VIII changed the religion from Catholic to Protestant therefore putting the monarch in charge of the church. This changing religion lead to a lot of cases of heresy and of people disobeying the churches will. When Mary came to power, she changed the religion back to Catholic and burnt a lot of people at the stake. The Guy Fawkes plot was a Catholic plot against the protestant King James.

Didn't really exist before this time. Only existed before someone went to trial. They existed in this time period, but they were only for the vagabonds and beggars and prostitutes.

This act stated that you couldn't lock anyone up unless they had committed a crime. You had a right to a trial and you also had a right to know why you'd been arrested.