Ethelred
historical figure · 2 works · 2 mentions · 2 anchored passages
the law of Ethelred
in the texts
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
Anglo-Saxon king to whom an early law on juror age is attributed.
We have no evidence, that I am aware of, of a prior date to Magna Carta, to disprove that all freemen were eligible as jurors, unless it be the law of Ethelred, which requires that they be elderly† men.
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John
Anglo-Saxon king (Ethelred the Unready) whose law directing the twelve senior thegns of each Wapentake is cited as foreshadowing the jury of accusation.
Further, one form of the jury—the jury of accusation—is clearly foreshadowed by the directions given to the twelve senior thegns of each Wapentake by a well–known law of Ethelred.