IMC 2016: Sessions

Session 1726: Jurors, Witnesses, and the Role of Wider Society in the Development of Judicial Institutions in 13th-Century England

Thursday 7 July 2016, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:	Institute of Legal & Constitutional Research, University of St Andrews
Organiser:	Will Eves, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Moderator/Chair:	Matthew McHaffie, Department of History, King's College London
Paper 1726-a	Witnesses and Legal Arguments in the 13th-Century Court of Canterbury (Language: English) Sarah White, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews Index terms: Canon Law, Law, Rhetoric
Paper 1726-b	Judicial Servers?: An Assessment of Jewish Witnesses in 13th-Century Legal Procedure (Language: English) Rebecca Searby, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Law, Rhetoric
Paper 1726-c	Justice Delayed?: Recalcitrant Jurors and Early Common Law Land Litigation (Language: English) Will Eves, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews Index terms: Administration, Law
Abstract	By the 13th century, the English common law and ecclesiastical courts were developing a well-defined procedural framework within which litigants could pursue their cases. Depending on the nature of the case, individuals from the litigants' local communities were often used as either jurors or witnesses to aid the judicial process. The role of such individuals raises important questions about the intersection of law, judicial institutions, and society in the later middle ages. This session provides a number of perspectives on how the practice of both lay and ecclesiastical 13th-century courts was aided or hindered by the involvement of wider society.