The Norman Conquest, its impact on the development of law and government in England. Medieval central and local government.

Зачет по истории Англии

The Norman Conquest, its impact on the development of law and government in England. Medieval central and local government.

Magna Carta as a foundation of democracy. Causes, main provisions and the role of Magna Carta.

Common law and equity. The Judicature Acts of 1873 – 1875.

Parliament from the 13th century to the Tudor period.

Reform at government level in the 16th century. Central government in the 16th - 17th centuries.

Parliament under the Stuarts.

The Long Parliament. The Civil War: causes and consequences.

Attempts to restrain king’s power in the 17th century: the Petition of Right, the Nineteen Propositions and the Bill of Rights.

9. The Glorious Revolution.

Political parties in the 17th – 20th centuries.

11. British government in the 18th century: the monarch, Privy Council and Parliament.

12. British government in the 18th century: the Cabinet and Prime Ministers. The role of the Shadow Cabinet.

Electoral system in the 18th century. Changes in the 19th - 20th centuries.

The House of Lords reform: 1911 – 2009.

The Norman Conquest, its impact on the development of law and government in England. Medieval central and local government.

The Conquest of England and its consequences. Government and society in the 11th century.

After a death of Edward the Confessor who had no children, there were 3 claimants to the Throne of England: Harold Godwinson, the King of Norway Harold III and duke of Normandy William I. In 1066 H. Godwinson was crowned King of England so William called him to resign the crown. Harold arranged(организовал) fleet and militia around the coasts, anticipating attack. King of Norway supported him and they besieged(облажили) York. There was a battle between them and William called Battle at Stamford Bridge where army of William was defeated(разбита).

During this time barons of France leagued around William for the invasion of England. He openly began assembling an army.

This army later was fight with Harold and he dead in this Battle of Hastings, William won.

As a result, William was crowned king of England on Christmas day. South of England submitted quickly to Norman rule, resistance(сопротивление) continued in the North for 6 more years until 1072. Uprising occurred(восстания произошли) in the Welsh Marches and at Stafford, also by Danes and Scots.

William grasped(понял) the need to reinforce(реформирование) system of central national government so he tried to make laws which had to be obeyed and he could have real power and control his subjects.

1. The great legal foundation was King`s Court (Curia Regis) – royal household comprising(включающая) the king and the most powerful men. It was designed for deciding disputes, listening to those who came with their complaints or accusations and they would give judgment. They administrated country during William`s absence.

2. Local administration system ruled by sheriffs in every shire: they collected taxes, got an army, were a judges.

3. The smallest part of courts system was “ hundred courts ” in part of shire which decided minor offenses(незначительное правосудие).

4. There were new courts: feudal courts where feudal could be a judge.

5. Disputes decided by trial by jury, they gave a collective verdict under oath or by trial by ordeal where people tested by water or fire.

6. William gave land and castles to Norman barons to hold for the king. But English land belonged to king so vassals had to swear fealty to the crown.

7. Church controlled by king and sometimes there were many problems between them, f.e. William retained the right to appoint bishops. Church had their own ecclesiastical courts.

8. Domesday Book (of Winchester) – 1086. William needed information about the country he had just conquered to find out who was owned lands and who had to pay taxes and how was the amount of money (whatever the book said what was the law, without appeal).

Development of central government from the 11th century to the 15th century.

For the mentioned period of time kings were in the head of England. However, with an issuing the Magna Carta (by John) kings could not abuse(не могли злоупотреблять) their power and had to respect barons’ privileges.

In 11th century William I designed the King’s Council (also known as Curia Regis) which consisted of mostly nobles and clergy. Functions were:

· helping the king’s government,

· giving advice,

· administrating the country and working as King’s Court (mostly land disputes between nobles were represented).

Henry I (in 12th century) was managed(направлял) at making government more efficient: he used the lower social classes for working in the government. Henry was also known as a creator of the bureaucracy. He created some departments which were responsible for a particular area of activities. For instance, Henry I designed the Exchequer – financial department dealing with royal revenues and generally profit to the king. In addition, he minimized power of sheriffs by creating circuit judges who had to travel from shire to shire to be judges instead of sheriffs.

When Henry II was in the head of England, he developed the central judicial system. There were 18 judges in the whole country; all of them were divided into 3 parts

· the ones who travelled across England independently,

· the ones who travelled with the king

· judges on the bench – King’s Bench in Westminster (decisions of this court were to be followed by all the other judges).

In 14 th century Edward I had made some administrative changes. He created 4 departments:

· the Chancery (legal dept: law documentation, law making department),

· the Exchequer (financial dept - was created by Henry I),

· the Household (dealing with king’s court)

· the Council (problems of national importance; controlled country instead king). Also Edward used the Parliament as a system, so we can call him the designer of the Parliament.

In the medieval ages central government was represented by:

· King’s Council dept (Curia Regis some time ago) – responsible for important questions

· Chamber (chief officer - lord Chamberlain) – discuss private offers of the king

· Exchequer (c.o. – the Treasurer) – the Court of Exchequer was functioning

· Admiralty (c.o. – the Admiral, this part was created by John) – cases about ships; the Court of Admiralty was functioning

· Chancery (c.o. – the Chancellor) – documents and law; the Court of Chancery was functioning

The Parliament in the mid of 14 th century became bicameral:

1) House of Commons – 2 representatives from constituency from knights and burgesses

2) House of Lord – Lords Temporal (dukes, barons) and Lord Spiritual (bishops and abbats)

Magna Carta as a foundation of democracy. Causes, main provisions and the role of Magna Carta.

King John: abuse of judicial prerogatives and other causes of granting Magna Carta.

Abuses: (злойпотребления)

· John sold legal rights to the highest bidder(за самую высокую цену)

· Used judicial system to punish his enemies

· Litigation fees were increased unfairly(судебные сборы увеличены несправедливо)

· Fees for every aspect of the proceeding(судопроизводства)

· Fines and fees were not uniform

· High taxation

Causes:

· He didn’t want to improve legal system, he only needed in money

· Loss of land in France

· Conflict with the Pope

· Heavy unfair increased taxes(несправедливое повышение налогов)

· Illegal arrests of the nobles

· Corrupt judicial system

· All groups of society hate King John

Parliament from the 13th century to the Tudor period.

Reform at government level in the 16th century. Central government in the 16th - 17th centuries.

Privileges of the House of Commons

· freedom of speech (could freely discuss topics given by the king),

· had personal access (the speaker of Commons) to the crown.

She thought every element was must obey (должен подчиняться) “one head, one governor, one law”.

The Privy Council, acting as representative of royalty(в качестве представителя королевской семьи), planned all legislation, and Parliament must realize law. Every aspect of government was intimate because it was small and rested on the support of probably no more than 5000 key persons.  

Legislation

3. forming a contact between the Crown and the nation  

As Parliament was bicameral, the House of Commons had some privileges:

1. freedom of speech (1583)  

2. freedom from arrest  

3. personal access(доступ) of the Speaker of the Commons to the monarch.

As for the reign of James I he believed in divine power(божественну), that no human had the right even to contact him. But because of Jay Fox’s (was a catholic) tried to kill the king, hi to limit the rights of catholics. Parliament was dissolved in December of 1610. James I got money by the sale of title. In 1614, 1621 Parliament was summoned again owing to the need in money, but as its members started to discuss foreign affairs(иностранные дела) it was dissolved and they were arrested. In 1624 because of the king’s couldn't to rule the country himself Parliament got powers and it started to debate new powers.

During the reign of Charles I Parliament was dissolved by the king. He tried to got forced loans(принудительные займы) without Parliament. Charles ruled successfully without Parliament 11 years, but when he needed money, he summoned parliament. The Long Parliament debated the the Grand Remonstrance, the list of grievances against the king(список жалоб против царя). It divide the Commons into royalists (king could be trusted) and parliamentarians. Charles II built up a body of support(орган поддержки) in Parliament. They came to be called “tories”. The tory and whig groups were known by their disagreement over the authoritarianism(были разногласия по поводу автоитаризма) of the Crown. Tories (most of royalists) supported the power of the monarch, Anglican Church and interests of aristocracy. Whigs supported the power of Parliament, new Protestant sects and interests of mercantile classes (business).

The Glorious Revolution

Reforms in Parliaments

People started to discuss the role of the House of Lords because they had a lot of powers that stopped the progress. It was the reason for reforms in Parliament. The liberals wanted to get rid of confrontation between HoL and HoC.

Parliament Act of 1911 :

● The Lords' veto on money bills was abolished.

● Other Bills should become law if they passed in the Commons and were rejected by the Lords 3 times within 2 years - HoL had lost important power to change the decision of HoC - only postpone (отложить) and House of Commons became the dominated part of the Parliament.

● The maximum duration of a Parliament should be five years instead of seven

● Payments for MPs

Parliament Act of 1949 - under the same circumstances (обстоятельствам). The period of postponing became 1 year.

Life Peerage Act of 1958 - hereditary peer. New type of peer - life peer, get title for достижения it. The Act allowed for the creation of female peers entitled to sit in the House of Lords; the first such women peers took their seats 21 October 1958.

The House of Lords Act of 1999 - there were more than 1000 peers. It decided to reduce numbers of hereditary peers

The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 - the HoL stopped worked as a highest court of appeal. Supreme Court was created.

House of Lords:

● Lords Temporal

○ Hereditary peers

○ Law lords (because it started to work as a highest court)

○ Life peers - was disappeared in 21 century

● Lords Spiritual - represented the Church

Зачет по истории Англии

The Norman Conquest, its impact on the development of law and government in England. Medieval central and local government.

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