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Copyright 2004 S. A. Reilly
OUR LEGAL HERITAGE
S. A. Reilly, Attorney 175 E. Delaware Place Chicago, Illinois 60611-7715 S.A.Reilly@att.net
Copyright 2004
PREFACE This was written to appreciate what laws have been in existence for a long time and therefore have proven their success in maintaining a stable society. Its purpose is also to see the historical context in which our legal doctrines developed. It includes the inception of the common law system, which was praised because it made law which was not handed down by an absolutist king; the origin of the jury system; the meaning of the Magna Carta provisions in their historical context; and the emergence of attorneys.
In the Table of Contents, the title of each chapter denotes an important legal development in the given time period for that chapter. Each chapter is divided into three sections: The Times, The Law, and Judicial Procedure.
The Times section sets a background and context in which to better understand the law of that period. The usual subject matter of history such as battles, wars, royal intrigues, periods of corruption, and international relations are omitted as not helping to understand the process of civilization and development of the law. Standard practices are described, but there are often variations with locality. Also, change did not come abruptly, but with vacillations, e.g. the change from pagan to Christian belief and the change to allowance of loans for interest. The scientific revolution was accepted only slowly. There were often many attempts made for change before it actually occurred, e.g. gaining Parliamentary power over the king's privileges, such as taxation.
The Judicial Procedure section describes the process of applying the law and trying cases, and jurisdictions. It also contains some examples of cases.
For easy comparison, amounts of money expressed in pounds or marks have often been converted to the smaller denominations of shillings and pence. There are twenty shillings in a pound. A mark in silver is two-thirds of a pound. Shillings are abbreviated: "s." There are twelve pennies or pence in a Norman shilling. Pence are abbreviated "d." Six shillings and two pence is denoted 6s.2d. A scaett was a coin of silver and copper of lesser denomination than a shilling. There were no coins of the denomination of shilling during Anglo-Saxon times.
The sources and reference books from which information was obtained are listed in a bibliography instead of being contained in tedious footnotes. There is no index to pages because the electronic text will print out its pages differently on different computers with different computer settings. Instead, a word search may be done on the electronic text.
Dedication and Acknowledgements
A Vassar College faculty member once dedicated her book to her students, but for whom it would have been written much earlier. This book "Our Legal Heritage" is dedicated to the faculty of Vassar College, without whom it would never have been written. Much appreciation goes to Professor James Curtin of Loyola Law School for his review and comments on this book's medieval period: Chapters 4-10, and especially his comment that "I learned quite a bit about life in those days from your work." Thanks go to Loyola University Law School Professor George Anastaplo for introducing me to Professor Curtin. Much appreciation goes to Professor Lacey Baldwin Smith of Northwestern University's History Department for his review and comments on this book's Tudor and Stuart periods: Chapters 11-17, especially his comment that he learned a lot. Thanks go to Northwestern University Law School Professor Steven Presser for introducing me to Professor Smith. Finally, many thanks go to fellow Mensan William Wedgeworth for proof-reading the entire book.
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