Norman kings
group · 2 works · 3 mentions · 7 anchored passages
the Norman Dukes · the Norman Kings · the Norman kings · the Norman princes
in the texts
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
The dynasty of kings from William the Conqueror onward, contrasted with Saxon practice regarding judges and juries.
This practice of sending the king’s judges into the counties to preside at jury trials, was introduced by the Norman kings.
, the best and most just of these (the Norman) princes, * * Peter, of Blois, a judicious and even elegant writer, of that age, gives a pathetic description of the venality of justice, and the oppressions of the poor, * * and he scruples not to complain to the king himself of these abuses.
Hallam says, that “For the first three reigns (of the Norman kings) * * the intolerable exactions of tribute, the rapine of purveyance, the iniquity of royal courts, are continually in the mouths of the historians.
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John
The line of Norman monarchs (the Conqueror and his sons) whose policies balanced popular, feudal, and nascent royal jurisdictions and introduced inquisitio procedure.
Many hundreds never bowed to the exclusive domination of any one lord, and the courts of the shires were guarded by the Norman Kings against the encroachment of even the most powerful barons.
Although it was the policy of the Norman Kings to prevent their barons from gaining excessive powers of jurisdiction, it was by no means their policy to suppress these jurisdictions altogether.
” Among the prerogatives of the Norman Dukes was this right to compel the sworn evidence of reliable men of any district—men specially picked for the purpose, and put on oath before answering the questions asked of them.