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1. Words and expressions.

Common pleas	судебные разбирательства (между частными лицами), позднее гражданские иски
inquisition	расследование, следствие
disseisin	незаконное (иногда насильственное) нарушение права владения недвижимостью
assize	судебное разбирательство с участием присяжных
freeholder	свободный землевладелец
amercement	штраф
amerce	налагать штраф
peer	ровня, равный
tenure	владение, собственность, имущество
writ	судебный приказ о наложении ареста на имущество

Magna Carta

Magna Carta was issued by King John in June 1215, under compulsion of his barons. From the time of its issue it became a symbol to barons and people alike, and king after king, throughout the middle ages, was expected to confirm it. Its clauses were regarded with veneration long after they were out of date, and men read into them meanings which would have surprised their original drafters. Seventeenth century lawyers, ignorant of the law of the early 13th century, knowing nothing of the conditions of the time, saw in the charter a solemn grant to the people of England of rights which the Stuart kings were withholding. Trial by jury, the principle of habeas corpus, the right of parliament to control taxation, all these were thought to be secured by Magna Carta. Even the great historians of the 19th century wrote of the charter with more enthusiasm than judgement. Modern criticism has done much to put it in its rightful perspective.

The intention of the men who drew up the charter was to state the law as it should be. It is the first detailed statement of feudal law, the first clear agreement between the king and his barons as to the exact demands which the king can make on them and which they can make on their men. Its emphasis on the use of the feudal council inaugurates no new policy, but simply reiterates the recognised, though not always followed, feudal practice.

Here are some Magna Carta clauses reforming judicial and legal matters:

- Common pleas are not to follow the court but to be held in some certain place.

- For the taking of inquisitions of novel disseisin, mort d’anestor, and darrein presentment two justices are to be sent through the realm four times a year and with four knights of each county chosen by the county are to hold the assizes on the day and in the meeting place of the shire court. If all cannot be taken on the one day, enough knights and freeholders are to remain to conduct the business.

- Amercements are to be in accordance with the measure of offence. They are not to be so heavy, in the case of grievous crimes, as to deprive any man of his means of livelihood. They are to be assessed by the honest men of the neighbourhood. Earls and barons are to be amerced by their peers according to the measure of their offence.

- Clerks shall only be amerced according to the measure of their offence and only the lands which they hold by lay tenure shall be answerable for the amercement.

- The lands of those convicted of felony shall only be held by the king for a year and a day and then shall return to the lord of the fee.

- Nothing shall henceforth be given for a writ of enquiry touching life or limb, but it shall be granted freely and not denied.

- No one is to be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman for the death of any other than her husband.

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