1
00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:12,400
'October, Westminster Abbey.'

2
00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:19,640
'I've come to see one of the great
set pieces of English law -

3
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,800
'the ceremony marking
the start of the new legal year.'

4
00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,200
This is the legal establishment
on show.

5
00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,080
Ritual, tradition, plenty of wigs.

6
00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,960
It's colourful, it's splendid.

7
00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:37,000
The danger is that it can make
the law seem far removed

8
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,080
from most people's lives.

9
00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,280
In fact, the public have been

10
00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,160
at the centre of the legal system
for centuries.

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00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:51,880
Sitting in a jury, it is they
who decide guilt or innocence.

12
00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,040
Without precedent in history,
English law came to embody

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00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,480
a fairness and equality
barely known elsewhere.

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In this series, I'll show
how the story of England's law

15
00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,680
is nothing less than the story
of England's people.

16
00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,960
'I'll explain how despite being
forged by kings and invaders,

17
00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:17,440
'by the Church and politicians,
English law has always resisted

18
00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,520
'becoming merely the tool
of the powerful.'

19
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,000
But this isn't
an open and shut case.

20
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'The law has also been
guilty of brutality and excess.

21
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'Its methods have sometimes been
merciless. It has taken pioneering

22
00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,000
'and courageous individuals
to put it back in its path

23
00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,760
'of justice and fairness.'

24
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The result, in my opinion, exceeds
anything England has achieved

25
00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,560
in the arts or the sciences.

26
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In its importance,
and in its influence,

27
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English law is this country's
greatest gift to the world.

28
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'My name's Harry Potter,
and I'm a barrister.

29
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'I didn't come to the profession
by a conventional route.

30
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'It was while working
as a prison chaplain

31
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'that I became interested
in the law.'

32
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'Now I practice in London and I
specialise in criminal defence.'

33
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Like all my colleagues, I work
within a very specific system,

34
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the English common law.

35
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Its principles are practised

36
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in countries as far afield
as India and America,

37
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but it's quite different from
the system used on the Continent.

38
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Or even, in many respects,
in my native Scotland.

39
00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,000
'The term common law doesn't
just mean something

40
00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,320
'practised uniformly
across the country.

41
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,520
'It denotes a system
which places lay people

42
00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,560
'at the heart of justice,
in the form of the jury.

43
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'A system where judges
largely base their rulings

44
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:30,160
'on earlier, similar cases,
actual practice,

45
00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,760
'rather than on theory
or on legislation.

46
00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,360
'And it's been that way
for centuries.'

47
00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:39,840
This makes venerable rituals

48
00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,400
like the annual ceremony
in Westminster Abbey

49
00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:49,400
perhaps less detached from reality
than they might look.

50
00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,720
Because several of the key features
that characterise

51
00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:58,280
the courtrooms I work in today
were in place by the 14th century.

52
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,520
So how did England,
unlike its neighbours,

53
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,800
develop such a unique
and enduring system?

54
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,120
That's what I'm setting out
to explore in this programme.

55
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,600
The origin of
the English common law.

56
00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:29,440
'The first thing any legal system
needs is a set of laws.

57
00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:31,200
'And I've come to Rochester in Kent

58
00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,880
'to track down the earliest-known
English law code.'

59
00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:38,840
'Established in the 5th century,

60
00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:42,200
'Kent is thought to have been
the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom.

61
00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:47,440
'Rochester's ancient cathedral
and imposing castle testify

62
00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,480
'to the region's
early predominance.'

63
00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:52,840
But Rochester boasts
yet another treasure,

64
00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:56,960
which for a lawyer such as me
is even more significant.

65
00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:08,200
'Stored in the council archives
is a book of enormous importance,

66
00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,920
'not just for the law but for
the entire English-speaking world.'

67
00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:17,920
This is the treasure
I was telling you about.

68
00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,120
It's the Textus Roffensis,
or the Rochester book.

69
00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,680
And it contains
a number of documents

70
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,880
but the most significant
is the first, and it's this.

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00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:37,880
A few pages of a text
dating back to 600.

72
00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:46,840
It's not only the first writing
in English that we have,

73
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so it's the beginning
of English literature,

74
00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,000
it's the first law code
that we have.

75
00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:01,920
It's a very simple list of fines
or compensation

76
00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:06,080
for accidents, injuries, wrongs.

77
00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:12,560
HE READS IN OLD ENGLISH

78
00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:22,840
"If hair seizure takes place,
50 sceatta as compensation."

79
00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:26,960
READING CONTINUES, THEN DIES AWAY

80
00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:32,920
"If an ear becomes struck off, one
is to compensate with 12 shillings."

81
00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:37,360
"If one strikes off a thumb,
20 shillings."

82
00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:42,040
And this is perhaps
the most sensitive one.

83
00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,480
"If someone disables
a genital member,

84
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:50,360
"one is to buy him off
with three person payments."

85
00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,480
'A person payment was the monetary
value ascribed to a man's life.'

86
00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,280
'In this instance, the victim
was compensated for the children

87
00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:02,120
'he would no longer
be able to sire.'

88
00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,400
We tend to think that
the compensation culture

89
00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:10,440
is something imported from America.

90
00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:14,720
But here it is,
at the very start of English law.

91
00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:24,080
'The laws in the Textus have
traditionally been attributed

92
00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,720
'to the first English king
to become a Christian.'

93
00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,160
'This was Aethelberht,
who ruled Kent

94
00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:33,600
'in the late 6th
and early 7th century.'

95
00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,400
'So how did he fit into this
early compensation culture?'

96
00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,560
'I asked the historian
and linguist Carole Hough

97
00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,400
'to explain
how the system worked in practice.'

98
00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,640
There are different ranks within
Anglo-Saxon society.

99
00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:52,320
There's the King, the aristocracy,
the ordinary free man, and the slave.

100
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,760
And it is the rank of the victim that
determines the amount of compensation

101
00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:58,600
that they are entitled to.

102
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,160
So if you damage
the King's toenail,

103
00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:05,160
he gets more than if you
damage a slave's toenail?

104
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,920
Don't even think about
damaging the King's toenail.

105
00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:10,760
Now in terms of enforcement,

106
00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:16,280
do we know if this code was
enforced, how it was enforced?

107
00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:21,160
The responsibility for enforcing laws
was very much on the families,

108
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the relatives, the victims.

109
00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:27,040
Law was enforced by society
from within

110
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rather than by the King from the top.

111
00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:37,800
So you damage my son's ear
and I come to you and say,

112
00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,440
"Well, the code says
that's three shillings",

113
00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,600
and you hand over
the three shillings?

114
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,120
And your family would be
standing behind you,

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00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:50,200
saying "And we insist
that you hand it over."

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00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,440
And I think one of the things
we have to remember is that the laws

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00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,680
would be a starting point for
negotiation between the families.

118
00:08:56,680 --> 00:09:01,520
So it wouldn't necessarily be
50 shillings that was handed over.

119
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It would be, "Look, this injury
is worth 50 shillings."

120
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"Well, I've got a cow here that's
worth 10 shillings and a few pigs

121
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"that are worth six, so we'll make it
up in that way to settle the matter."

122
00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:14,920
COWS MOOING

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00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:19,960
AUCTIONEER SPEAKS AT PACE

124
00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,520
'The clear categories and prices
of Aethelberht's code

125
00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:32,640
'are bound to have suited
his Anglo-Saxon subjects,

126
00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:37,120
'whose economy centred around
farming and livestock rearing.'

127
00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:41,680
At 40, four...

128
00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:47,720
'Still, a law code solely based on
cost appears morally rather empty.

129
00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:52,080
'Surely human beings can't be
treated like commodities or cattle?'

130
00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,240
You might accuse Aethelberht's code
of knowing the price of everything

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and the value of nothing.

132
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But in the context of the time,
it had much merit.

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The ability to settle a dispute,
to draw a line under a grievance,

134
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was crucial in the early
Anglo-Saxon era

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when the greatest threat
to the stability of society

136
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came not from external enemies
but from internal feuds.

137
00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,880
'Before the Royal regulation of law,
blood feuds were the only form

138
00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:35,000
'of justice available in Anglo-Saxon
lands, and they could lead

139
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'to escalating conflicts that
threatened the entire realm.

140
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'By ensuring justice for the people,

141
00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:47,240
'Aethelberht and his successors
were safeguarding their thrones.'

142
00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,960
'If laws are the essential basis
of any legal system,

143
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'the next step is having
institutions to administer

144
00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,320
'and implement them. Courts.

145
00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:13,200
'Anglo-Saxon society was ordered
into areas known as hundreds,

146
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:15,080
'so-called according to one theory

147
00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:19,280
'because they may have contained
roughly 100 homesteads.

148
00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:23,320
'These had their own assemblies
to deal with minor cases.

149
00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:28,000
'More serious disputes and crimes
were referred to the shire courts,

150
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,240
'forerunners of our county courts.'

151
00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:36,960
This mound goes by the characterful
name of Scutchamer Knob,

152
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,440
sometimes corrupted
to Scotsman's Knob.

153
00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,680
Anyway, in Anglo-Saxon times, the
shire court of Berkshire met here

154
00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:46,440
and you couldn't have missed it.

155
00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:54,440
'Sited prominently on the Ridgeway,

156
00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,880
'assemblies here would have been
visible for miles around.'

157
00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,720
'Presiding over the shire court
might have been a senior cleric

158
00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,680
'such as a bishop, especially
when a dispute involved the church,

159
00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:13,480
'or otherwise a representative
of the King,

160
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:17,200
'a figure known as
a shire reeve or sheriff.

161
00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:19,560
'And trials would be resolved

162
00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:23,000
'using a remarkably simple
method of proof.'

163
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,440
Early trials were based on oaths.
To prove your innocence,

164
00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:29,760
all you had to do was to swear
an oath that you weren't guilty

165
00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,800
and to get people to come here
to swear to your honesty.

166
00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,840
If you could rustle up
the prescribed level of support,

167
00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,880
you were off the hook.

168
00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,600
'Just how many oath helpers
you needed

169
00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:48,440
'depended on your social status and
the nature of the alleged offence.

170
00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,680
'One 10th-century text stipulates

171
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'36 people were required
in a case of arson or murder.'

172
00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:02,280
To us, it all sounds very odd
and open to abuse.

173
00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:07,640
But this was a society suffused
with religious faith.

174
00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,320
To lie on oath
was to risk damnation,

175
00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:14,440
and your friends might be less
than keen to support you

176
00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,000
if they considered you a liability

177
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,360
who could compromise their
good standing in the community.

178
00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,840
So yes, it was simple,

179
00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:30,040
but that needn't mean
it was ineffective or unjust.

180
00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:34,960
'The Anglo-Saxons didn't distinguish

181
00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,480
'between what we now regard
as civil and criminal law.

182
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:43,480
'So oaths could be used to
resolve property disputes as well.

183
00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:48,040
'Of course, if two opposing parties
swore contradictory oaths,

184
00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,240
'it meant at least one of them
was committing a mortal sin.

185
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,680
'A situation the authorities
preferred to avoid.'

186
00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:00,840
There's a record of
an important case

187
00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:04,640
being adjudicated
on this very spot in 990.

188
00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:09,280
A wealthy woman named Winfled
lay claim to a couple of estates

189
00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:12,320
and the suit was heard
here at shire court

190
00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,160
under the auspices of two bishops.

191
00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:18,680
Winfled's oath-helpers
included such luminaries

192
00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:22,280
as the Abbot of Abingdon
and the Abbess of Reading.

193
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:27,960
In the event the dispute was settled
by arbitration and compromise,

194
00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:33,280
the parties having been urged
not to resort to oaths.

195
00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:38,280
Which shows just how serious
such a step would have been.

196
00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:48,040
'The system of hundred and shire
courts expanded across the country

197
00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,520
'as successive Anglo-Saxon kings
increased their territory.'

198
00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:56,880
'By the 10th century, England
had a legal infrastructure

199
00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:00,680
'unmatched in Europe, with
its capital here in Winchester.'

200
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:07,520
As the size of their kingdoms
and the scale of their power grew,

201
00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:12,600
the Anglo-Saxon monarchs
continued to issue law codes.

202
00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:17,960
But these now went well beyond
the old compensation-based system

203
00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:22,400
to include physical punishments
such as mutilation and death.

204
00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:27,080
The codes made an increasingly
gruesome read.

205
00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:28,440
'Around 925,

206
00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:28,800
'King Athelstan proclaimed
his first law code for England.

207
00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:34,040
'King Athelstan proclaimed
his first law code for England.

208
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:38,240
'Right at the beginning he decrees
that no thief be spared

209
00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,560
'who may be taken red-handed,

210
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:45,680
'if he is older than 12 years
and has stolen more than 8p.'

211
00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:51,440
'And new crimes were
beginning to emerge,

212
00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:54,720
'reflecting important social
and economic changes.'

213
00:15:55,960 --> 00:16:01,200
Athelstan minted the first
single currency for England.

214
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:06,280
This coin, in Winchester's Museum,
bears the following inscription.

215
00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:14,720
"Athelstan Rex Tot Brit."

216
00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:17,520
King of all Britain.

217
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:25,600
It's a tiny object,
but it embodies royal authority.

218
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,640
And if you were caught
making a counterfeit,

219
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:30,600
you were in a whole lot of trouble.

220
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,560
Athelstan's code says
"If the monier be guilty,

221
00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:41,240
"let the hand be struck off
that wrought the offence

222
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:45,080
"and set up upon the money smithy."

223
00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:46,720
Nailed to the Mint.

224
00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,640
'Anglo-Saxon law had
become much harsher

225
00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,120
'because, in an attempt to
increase its effectiveness,

226
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:04,720
'kings had started to take over
the administration of justice.

227
00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:08,920
'Any serious crime was now deemed
an offence against the Crown,

228
00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:11,720
'a breach of the King's peace,

229
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,960
'and would be punished with
appropriate severity.'

230
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,280
'There was now, in effect,
a tacit contract with the people.

231
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,920
'By acting as the guarantor
of justice,

232
00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:27,080
'the King could claim fines
and forfeitures from the offender.

233
00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,800
'In return, the injured party
was given the satisfaction

234
00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,640
'of seeing the wrong-doer maimed
or executed.'

235
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:41,560
'Some of the best physical evidence
for how justice operated

236
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:42,960
'in later Anglo-Saxon England

237
00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,240
'has been found on the outskirts
of Winchester.

238
00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:50,640
'The archaeologist Andrew Reynolds
took me to Harestock,

239
00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,160
'close to the old Roman road.'

240
00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:56,360
What was found here
that makes it so special?

241
00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:58,200
Some archaeological excavation

242
00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,360
uncovered the remains
of 16 individuals

243
00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:02,200
buried in a series of graves.

244
00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,120
The modern name Harestock

245
00:18:04,120 --> 00:18:06,760
is derived from the old English
"shaffod stockan",

246
00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:09,880
which literally means
"heads on stakes".

247
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:11,040
It basically tells us

248
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:15,480
that it's an Anglo-Saxon
judicial execution cemetery.

249
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,960
So you can imagine
here in the Anglo-Saxon period

250
00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,640
a traveller moving along
the road behind us,

251
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,880
we're at a particularly prominent
place in the landscape here.

252
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:30,120
You can see this rising ground.

253
00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:34,320
A very prominent place, a series
of poles with heads on sticks.

254
00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,960
A very dramatic sight for travellers.

255
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,080
So it's making a statement as well?

256
00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,320
It's sending a very clear message
of power and authority.

257
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:47,200
When you look at the Anglo-Saxons'
continental neighbours,

258
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,200
even though they have
very highly developed legal culture,

259
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,560
they don't seem to have
anywhere near the kind of approach

260
00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,120
to using the landscape
in a very precise way

261
00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:59,440
in terms of where criminals
and outcasts were buried.

262
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,720
So what was happening
in Anglo-Saxon England was unique?

263
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,000
It was indeed, Harry, yes.

264
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:10,720
'As a lawyer, I put great emphasis
on the quality of the evidence.

265
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,440
'The remains recovered
from the Harestock site

266
00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:15,800
'are now kept in storage
by Winchester museums.

267
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:17,440
'Andrew showed me one example.'

268
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,720
Now this is astonishingly
well-preserved

269
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,920
for somebody who has been
in the ground 1,000 years.

270
00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:30,440
To layman's eyes, there's nothing
here to indicate anything other

271
00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,640
than the sad death
of a young person.

272
00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:34,520
It was a very different picture

273
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,280
when the body was actually
taken out of the ground

274
00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:39,760
because rather than
the hands being to either side,

275
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,400
as they are here,
when the body was excavated,

276
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,160
they were found crossed over each
other underneath or behind the back.

277
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:50,520
And that's a clear indication,
really, that you've got foul play

278
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,640
or something that's not quite usual
going on there.

279
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:58,040
But the greatest indication
that this is not a normal burial

280
00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:00,080
is the fact that the head,

281
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:04,760
which you can see here at
the correct anatomical position,

282
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,800
was actually found
by the side of the leg.

283
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,000
So how was decapitation done?

284
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,880
Well, almost certainly with a sword,

285
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,680
probably with the hands
tied behind the back.

286
00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,720
If you take a look at this bone here

287
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,640
where the blade of the sword
caught the underside of the jaw

288
00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:33,800
when the person was executed.

289
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:35,840
And that would be one blow,
would it?

290
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:37,480
That would have been one blow.

291
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,800
'In the absence of a police force,
the threat of death or mutilation

292
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:46,200
'was a clear way of preventing crime
but in later Anglo-Saxon times

293
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:50,080
'it wasn't just punishment
that was a deterrent.

294
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:54,120
'Even before you were found guilty,
the trial itself could be an ordeal.

295
00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:55,280
'Literally.'

296
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,560
THUNDERCLAPS

297
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,800
'In common with much of Europe,

298
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:05,280
'the later Anglo-Saxons

299
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,640
'adopted an additional method
of determining proof.

300
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,360
'One which drew on the power
of the elements -

301
00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:14,040
'of water, and of fire -

302
00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,680
'and which invited God himself
to intervene in the trial.'

303
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:26,800
This was the Judicium Dei, the
judgment of God, trial by ordeal.

304
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,480
If you were suspected of a crime,

305
00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:35,120
you were subjected to a ritualised
but painful and dangerous test.

306
00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:38,520
God would come to
the aid of the innocent,

307
00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:41,480
but for the guilty,
there would be no such comfort.

308
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,400
The ordeal was neither
torture nor punishment -

309
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,240
it was a mode of proof.

310
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,200
Only if you failed
were you punished.

311
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,440
WHIP CRACKS

312
00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,320
'Because of their religious element,

313
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,320
'ordeals were supervised
by the clergy.

314
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,800
'Two main kinds of ordeal
were employed in England.

315
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:10,320
'The first involved carrying a piece
of red-hot iron in your bare hand.'

316
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:15,880
Before the ordeal, the priest called
upon God to bless the hot iron,

317
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:20,680
so that it would be a pleasing
coolness to those who carry it

318
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:25,680
with justice and fortitude,
but a burning fire to the wicked.

319
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:33,080
The accused had to walk
a few paces holding the iron.

320
00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:37,440
The hand was then bandaged
and after three days was inspected

321
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,200
to see if it were healing.

322
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:44,720
'If the wound were clean,
that was proof of your innocence,

323
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:48,480
'but if it had started to fester,
you were deemed guilty.'

324
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,400
'The second kind of ordeal
was more dangerous.

325
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:01,440
'You were bound and lowered into
a body of sanctified water.

326
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:07,160
'And your guilt was determined
by whether you floated or sank.'

327
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:11,240
Now you might assume that sinking
meant you were guilty.

328
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,840
After all, you were
much more likely to drown.

329
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:18,520
But the belief was that the water
was so pure as to repel sin.

330
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:25,840
Sinking indicated innocence.
Floating was proof of guilt.

331
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:30,600
'Ordeals like these
may sound barbaric

332
00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:35,200
'but they were carried out
in Christian Europe for centuries.

333
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,840
'I asked legal historian John Hudson
what factors determined

334
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,360
'whether you were sent for ordeal
in the first place.'

335
00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:44,120
They seem to have been often proposed

336
00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:47,400
as a way of settling cases that
you couldn't settle in other ways.

337
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,840
For example, if you
don't have any factual proof,

338
00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,280
no marks on the person
who is accused,

339
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,440
no evidence that they
are holding stolen goods,

340
00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:57,760
no blood on their hands.

341
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,280
Then there's a chance that no one
will know who committed the offence,

342
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,840
and then the likelihood is that they
would have to go to trial by ordeal.

343
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:08,320
The number of people who actually
undergo the ordeal,

344
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,560
having been threatened with it,
may well be much smaller.

345
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,040
It seems to be a way
of trying to scare people

346
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,720
either into confessing
or very often into settling.

347
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,440
This was the judgment of God,

348
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:23,520
so how often did God acquit
in such circumstances?

349
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,200
We have quantitative evidence.

350
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,240
We've got registers from
the 13th century from Hungary,

351
00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,040
which give us numbers of people
going to ordeal

352
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,440
and we find that more than 50%
of people get off.

353
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,880
Why might the acquittal rate
have been so high?

354
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,720
It must be physiological
in some way.

355
00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:45,520
People have done studies of throwing
people into swimming pools

356
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:47,840
and seeing how many of them
naturally float

357
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,280
and how many of them
naturally sink.

358
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,400
And, of course, carrying a hot iron
should cauterise your hand.

359
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:56,160
What convicts you, it seems,

360
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,880
in England, is not whether
you're burnt or not -

361
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:03,040
everyone would be burnt - it's
whether your hand is clean or foul.

362
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,160
Has it turned pus-y or not?

363
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:09,200
What really matters to you is
whether you are bound up thereafter

364
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,760
with good ointment
and clean bandages.

365
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,680
While officially God
was determining the outcome,

366
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,800
it seems that human intervention
was quite possible

367
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,040
at all stages of the ordeal.

368
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:27,920
And nobody had greater control
over the process than the clergy.

369
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:31,040
How often they might have given
the Almighty helping hand

370
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:35,240
in declaring guilt innocence
we'll never know,

371
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:39,080
but it's clear that
the whole ordeal system

372
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:44,920
ensured for the Church a central
role in the dispensing of justice.

373
00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:50,400
'This raised an important question -
who was in charge of the law?

374
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:52,760
'The Church or the King?

375
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,680
'It would become a thorny
political issue

376
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,600
'but not for the Anglo-Saxon kings.

377
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,880
'Their role was about
to come to a sudden end.'

378
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,920
One night in September 1066,

379
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,400
Duke William of Normandy landed
with his army on the south coast.

380
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,240
It is said, here, at Pevensey Bay.

381
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:27,240
The Norman invaders quickly
exerted an iron grip

382
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,480
over the entire country.

383
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:34,360
Which should have been bad news
for the law of the Anglo-Saxons,

384
00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:37,600
now a vanquished race.

385
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,640
Except it wasn't.

386
00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:45,920
'William grasped an important
principle for any ruler of England.

387
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,720
'It's always better to go with
rather than against

388
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:51,480
'the grain of the law.

389
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,240
'William had political and practical
reasons for this.

390
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:56,720
'He had invaded England

391
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,880
'because he believed
he had the right to the throne.

392
00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:04,000
'If he wanted to be seen as the true
heir of Anglo-Saxon England,

393
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,600
'dumping or even damaging
its legal system

394
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,080
'would have been counter-productive.

395
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:13,920
'Besides, the hundred and shire
court system was highly organised

396
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:15,800
'and efficient
by continental standards.'

397
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:22,680
The English, it appears, were rather
better at running the country

398
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,720
than they were at defending it.

399
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,400
'However, one key innovation
introduced by the Normans

400
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,720
'was their favoured
method of ordeal.'

401
00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,920
GRUNTING

402
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:43,520
'In trial by combat, God would
grand victory to the righteous.

403
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:48,080
'This was seen by the wealthy
as a more dignified means

404
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:53,200
'of resolving civil disputes
than hot iron or water.

405
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:58,000
'It could also be used
in criminal cases.'

406
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,480
This is the sword
you've just been fighting with?

407
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,120
That's right, Harry.
We have here a couple of examples

408
00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:07,440
of swords of the early medieval
period, looking a bit like this.

409
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,880
So if the person was engaging
in a judicial combat,

410
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:14,000
is of this sort of sword
that that person would use,

411
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:15,360
depending on their status?

412
00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:18,000
Presumably this cost quite
a lot of money at the time.

413
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,920
The equivalent price would be

414
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:25,040
that of a Mercedes Benz
or a Rolls-Royce today.

415
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,320
What was the purpose of the combat?

416
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,720
Was it to kill your opponent or just
bludgeon them into submission?

417
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:32,760
Well, for a civil case,

418
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:36,840
which would be about large amounts
of money or land,

419
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,080
you would probably try to
bludgeon them into submission

420
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,400
and by the time one opponent is on
the ground and calls out "I yield",

421
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,320
it is probably equivalent to
an out-of-court settlement

422
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:47,360
in a large civil case.

423
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:54,720
My Lord!

424
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,800
'Criminal cases were an altogether
less dignified affair,

425
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,040
'often involving
the kind of riff-raff

426
00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,200
'who couldn't afford
a decent blade.'

427
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,320
This wooden stick would have been
a far more likely weapon

428
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,360
in trial by combat
in a criminal case

429
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:15,840
and, in so many words, you try to
hit your opponent where it hurts.

430
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:21,720
Head, shoulder, arms, knees, feet,
and all the male places.

431
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:26,200
Would you like to try? I would go
like that, or like that, boink? Yes.

432
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:27,840
And what about that? I think so.

433
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:31,480
There's no reason to believe that
this wouldn't have been sharpened

434
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,120
to a very nasty point, and
it may even have had nails in it.

435
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:40,240
'Although combat was a means of
establishing proof, not a penalty,

436
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:44,680
'such a violent procedure sometimes
saw the lines become blurred.'

437
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,000
When you beat the opponent
to the ground,

438
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,160
you might as well carry on
and kill them,

439
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,400
because afterwards they'll be
taken away and executed anyway,

440
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,640
either for the crime
they were initially accused of

441
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,600
or if is the other party
that gets beaten to the ground,

442
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:01,720
for having committed
major acts of perjury.

443
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,480
'What might happen if you lost
and survived

444
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,600
'is told in one of the few accounts
we have of

445
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,120
'an English judicial duel.'

446
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:18,400
A certain Thomas of Eldersfield
near Gloucester was defeated

447
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,640
in combat by a man
he'd been accused of wounding.

448
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:26,880
Rather than having him hanged,
the judges, being merciful,

449
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:32,000
ordered that he merely be
castrated and blinded.

450
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:38,000
The victor and his family set about
this task with a degree of relish,

451
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,760
throwing his eyes on the ground and
using his testicles as footballs,

452
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:46,000
the local lads kicking them
playfully at the girls.

453
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:58,920
Norman rule was far from being
a disaster for English law.

454
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:03,480
It allowed the people to pursue
their Anglo-Saxon legal traditions

455
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:06,720
in the context of strong
and stable government.

456
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:11,360
At least, that was the case for
almost three-quarters of a century.

457
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:16,080
Then, in 1135,
Stephen usurped the throne.

458
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,160
Civil war ensued
and the country fell apart.

459
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:40,600
'For nearly two decades,
from 1135 to 1154,

460
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,520
'England suffered what has been
called both 'The Anarchy'

461
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,680
'and the 19-Year Winter.'

462
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,480
'The result was a breakdown
in law and order,

463
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:57,320
'a myriad of unresolved disputes,
a depletion of royal coffers

464
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,040
'and the collapse of
the King's authority.'

465
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:09,360
The man who had to sort out this
mess was Stephen's cousin, Henry II,

466
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:13,960
who came to the throne in 1154
aged just 21.

467
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,440
The main instrument he used
was the law.

468
00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,920
To such an extent that some
historians have called him

469
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:26,160
nothing less than the father
of the English common law.

470
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:35,760
'Henry realised that it wasn't
sufficient just to issue laws.

471
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,040
'The trick was to
ensure their common,

472
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,800
'consistent and effective
implementation.'

473
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:52,160
'So in 1166, Henry established
a system of roving Royal Justices.

474
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,600
'These hand-picked officials
represented a new level

475
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:59,880
'of intervention by the Crown
in English law.

476
00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,440
'The Justices were to
travel the country,

477
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,000
'making sure that the law was being
enforced by the shire courts

478
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,440
'and claiming all the fines
that were due to the King.'

479
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,680
The Justices
weren't mere functionaries.

480
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,480
Henry was pulling out his big guns.
The first pair to set off

481
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:20,800
included one of his chief ministers
and the Earl of Essex.

482
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,840
They managed to
get as far as Carlisle

483
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:27,760
when the Earl rather inconveniently
fell ill and died.

484
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,360
Before his demise,
in the space of just a few months,

485
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:36,040
they'd managed to shake down
half the shires of England.

486
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:43,160
'The Justices were able to ascertain
how well local sheriffs were doing

487
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:45,240
'in prosecuting offenders.

488
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,640
'And how much money was owed
in fines to the king.

489
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:53,920
'Here, in Lincolnshire, for example,
they recorded more than 100 cases.'

490
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,200
There's Simon Fitzwalter
who owes 40 shillings

491
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:07,920
for making a false claim,
and one Hugo de Cookton,

492
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:13,080
who was fined a mark for absenting
himself from trial by duel.

493
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:20,480
In total, over £250
was forfeit to the Crown.

494
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:25,760
Not a lot in today's money,
but in 1166,

495
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:29,720
that amount could buy you 20 knights

496
00:34:29,720 --> 00:34:34,920
or 165 soldiers for an entire year.

497
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:38,200
'As the Justices made their way
across the country,

498
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:41,240
'startling disparities emerged.

499
00:34:41,240 --> 00:34:45,560
'While Yorkshire
reported 127 felonies,

500
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,400
'Wiltshire came up with
a mere three,

501
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,600
'Worcestershire, just one,
and Shropshire none.'

502
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:56,120
Either these counties had
staggeringly virtuous populations

503
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:58,840
or somebody wasn't doing their job.

504
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:06,440
'This is where Henry's other
big idea came into play.

505
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,280
'He decreed a single set
of legal procedures

506
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:12,880
'that were strictly to be followed
throughout England.

507
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:17,200
'Such standardisation
was unprecedented in Europe.

508
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,600
'And, crucially, from then on,

509
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:24,120
'members of the public would play an
essential role in the legal process.

510
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:28,200
'So-called juries of presentment
became common practice.'

511
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:34,240
Juries of presentment
didn't consider evidence

512
00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:38,920
and determine guilt or innocence.
Instead they were representatives

513
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:43,800
of local communities who had to
report under oath all the crimes

514
00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:49,080
committed in their area and to name
those they deemed responsible.

515
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:56,240
So not juries in the modern sense,
but a key precursor.

516
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:01,240
'Increasingly, the county
sheriffs were sidelined

517
00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:04,320
'and the juries were required
to present their reports

518
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,600
'to the Justices themselves.

519
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:09,240
'These Justices were
becoming a powerful body,

520
00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:14,000
'both in the shires
and in the capital.

521
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,960
'There was now a central court
firmly established at Westminster.

522
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,000
'It wasn't a Superior Court
or Court of Appeal,

523
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,640
'but it was the base from which
the roving Justices set out

524
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,240
'and to which they returned.

525
00:36:27,240 --> 00:36:30,160
'And it sat in regular sessions
of its own.

526
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:35,560
'In effect, it was Henry's
legal headquarters.'

527
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,880
What was starting to emerge here
was a body of judges,

528
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,920
as we would recognise them now,
serving both at Westminster

529
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,280
and in the shire circuits

530
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:51,040
and building up a pool of
knowledge and expertise.

531
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:53,680
It's easy to imagine them
getting together between sessions

532
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,720
or just over a meal,
swapping stories,

533
00:36:56,720 --> 00:37:00,400
debating the finer points
of legal practice,

534
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:07,200
and using this shared experience
to shape their subsequent rulings.

535
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:10,360
'Accounts of cases began
to be written down,

536
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:12,920
'allowing them to be consulted,

537
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:16,520
'and the first books about
English law started to appear.'

538
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:19,280
The Justices were establishing
a method that remains

539
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:24,120
a defining characteristic
of the English legal system.

540
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:28,560
They were making judgments
based on precedent.

541
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:33,520
Common law wasn't just about
consistency across the realm,

542
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:38,760
it was also about being consistent
with previous decisions.

543
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:43,240
'The Westminster Court mainly
dealt with civil litigation.

544
00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:46,680
'They would hear your suit
more quickly than a shire court -

545
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:48,400
'for a fee.

546
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:53,800
'Making money seems to have been an
important aspect of Henry's reforms,

547
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:57,040
'a point I raised with
legal historian Paul Brand.'

548
00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:00,920
How much is revenue-raising as
opposed to making the country safer

549
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,160
an underlining priority for Henry?

550
00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:09,040
Clearly he was not unaware of the
fact that Justices brought in money.

551
00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:16,560
It would be wrong to suppose that
he didn't have that in mind at all

552
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:21,880
in what he did, but there were
rather more profitable things

553
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:25,760
for a king to do
than ensuring justice.

554
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:31,560
He did not charge
significantly large amounts

555
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:35,040
for access to royal courts.

556
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,400
So he ensured that royal justice
was affordable?

557
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:43,160
He ensured that royal justice
was affordable

558
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:46,640
to the normal man in the street.

559
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:50,680
So he had very high ideals
as to his role, I suppose?

560
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:56,120
He, as it were, reorientates
the English monarchy.

561
00:38:56,120 --> 00:39:02,880
He retools it as....an institution

562
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:06,480
deserving the support
of the King's subjects

563
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,360
because it provides justice for them.

564
00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:19,720
'And that justice was meant
to be consistent across society.

565
00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:23,760
'The common law didn't discriminate,
at least in theory,

566
00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,280
'between the rich and poor.'

567
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,680
But one important group
remained safely beyond the grasp

568
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,840
of the common law. Henry's
attempts to deal with that problem

569
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:38,760
would come to define his reign
and reach a head here in Canterbury.

570
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,640
'That problem was the clergy.

571
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,760
'They enjoyed their own
legal system, Canon Law.

572
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,160
'If you were in holy orders,

573
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:53,640
'you were subject solely to
the jurisdiction of the Church.

574
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:56,040
'The Crown couldn't touch you.

575
00:39:56,040 --> 00:40:00,360
'No matter how serious the crime,
the cleric would merely be ordered

576
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:04,280
'by his bishop to purge his sin,
usually through penance,

577
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:09,000
'whereas a layman might
be mutilated or hanged.

578
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,840
'That is, unless they
claimed "benefit of clergy." '

579
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:16,800
"Benefit of clergy" provided
perhaps the biggest loophole

580
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,560
in English legal history.
On the flimsiest of grounds,

581
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:25,080
you could claim to be a cleric,
thus removing your sanctified soul

582
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:28,560
from the grasp
of the secular authorities.

583
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:31,680
Eventually, the benefit
could be claimed

584
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:35,160
merely by reciting
the first verse of Psalm 51.

585
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,560
"Have mercy upon me, O God,

586
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:42,960
"according to thy loving kindness.
According unto the multitude

587
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:46,880
"of thy tender mercies,
blot out my transgressions."

588
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:53,960
'The inability of royal justice
to prosecute criminous clerics

589
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:57,200
'represented perhaps
the most serious challenge

590
00:40:57,200 --> 00:40:58,600
'to Henry's authority.

591
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:02,080
'So when he appointed
his close friend Thomas Becket

592
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:04,200
'as Archbishop of Canterbury,

593
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:08,120
'he did so on the expectation
that under Becket's leadership,

594
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,160
'the Church would conform
and cooperate.'

595
00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:15,280
'But Becket went native.

596
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:18,160
'Henry was NOT amused.'

597
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:22,280
Even when working full-time
as a priest,

598
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:25,480
I had little sympathy for Becket
and his stance.

599
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,480
To defend the independence
and rights of the Church

600
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:30,680
from secular intrusion is one thing,

601
00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:34,800
to protect literate murderers,
robbers and rapists

602
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:38,880
from the full rigours of the law
is quite another.

603
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:44,200
The clerical child abuse scandals
of recent years are Becket's legacy.

604
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:48,920
I can well understand how Henry II
got more than a little exasperated

605
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,480
at the pig-headed obduracy
of his archbishop,

606
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:55,520
and how he demonstrated
that frustration

607
00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:58,800
in an intemperate outburst
to the effect of,

608
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,800
"Who will rid me
of this turbulent priest?"

609
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:05,920
'What happened next

610
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,920
'is one of the most famous stories
of Medieval England.'

611
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:18,360
On the night of
29th December, 1170,

612
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:23,680
the story goes Becket was at evening
prayer here in Canterbury Cathedral,

613
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:27,200
when he was confronted
by four knights loyal to the King.

614
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:37,200
They struck him down with
repeated blows from their swords,

615
00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:41,800
and they were so ferocious that they
sliced off the crown of his head,

616
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,680
so that,
in the words of an eyewitness,

617
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:48,320
"The blood, white with the brain,
and the brain,

618
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:53,800
"no less red from the blood,
dyed the floor of the cathedral."

619
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:02,680
'It's unlikely Henry
actually ordered Becket's murder.

620
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:07,760
'His archbishop's demise undermined
all that the king wanted,

621
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:11,360
'as public opinion
rallied round the Church.

622
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:14,920
'Becket became a martyr,
and a repentant Henry

623
00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:19,880
'felt he could no longer touch
the issue of criminous clerics.'

624
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,960
THUNDER RUMBLES

625
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:30,800
'Although the Church
may have remained off-limits,

626
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:35,360
'Henry II had given the rest
of his kingdom a lasting legacy.'

627
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:41,960
Henry and his advisers
didn't reinvent law in England,

628
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:48,240
but they certainly gave it order,
cohesion and a degree of uniformity

629
00:43:48,240 --> 00:43:51,280
unmatched ANYWHERE in Europe.

630
00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:56,600
Now England didn't just have laws,
it had a legal system.

631
00:43:56,600 --> 00:44:00,440
A king born in France
had laid the stable foundation

632
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,880
upon which today's English law
could be built.

633
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:15,880
'Henry II understood royal authority
was best maintained in England,

634
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,880
'not through the arbitrary exercise
of power,

635
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:22,480
'but by being seen
as the guarantor of justice.

636
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:27,240
'But perhaps even he underestimated
just how quickly the English

637
00:44:27,240 --> 00:44:32,760
'would come to see justice not as
the King's gift, but as THEIR right.

638
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:36,800
'It was a lesson that his son John
would learn

639
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:40,040
'in a landmark moment
in English history.'

640
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,840
'On 15th June, 1215,

641
00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:51,440
'King John rode from Windsor Castle
to meet his barons,

642
00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:55,360
'who had pitched their camp
by the water meadows at Runnymede.'

643
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:59,160
On that June morning,
nearly 800 years ago,

644
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:03,000
these meadows would have been
filled with thousands of people -

645
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,880
soldiers, knights, barons,
bishops, the King himself -

646
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:13,160
all awaiting something unprecedented
in English history.

647
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:17,840
The king was about to put his seal
on a document

648
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:22,880
that had been forced upon him
by his subjects.

649
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:30,840
'John's disastrous French wars,
his repeated demands for money,

650
00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:34,080
'and his abuse of royal courts
to levy fines,

651
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:37,920
'had alienated many of England's
powerful barons.

652
00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:41,840
'They had rebelled,
forcing the King to negotiate.

653
00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:44,000
'The result was written down

654
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:47,080
'in the most famous legal document
in history -

655
00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:51,520
'the Great Charter, Magna Carta.

656
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:56,840
'Its 63 clauses cover a wide range
of royal concessions,

657
00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:00,160
'but Magna Carta
was more than just a long list

658
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:02,720
'of legal and economic demands.

659
00:46:02,720 --> 00:46:08,200
'It was a groundbreaking recognition
that the English people had rights.'

660
00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:14,080
Much of Magna Carta may strike
the modern reader as impenetrable,

661
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:18,160
obscure, and sometimes even trivial.

662
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:20,400
But buried among the clauses

663
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:23,840
dealing with fish weirs
and measures of ale

664
00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:26,920
are two of enduring significance.

665
00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:31,960
"No free man shall be seized
or imprisoned,

666
00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:34,720
"or stripped of his rights
or possessions,

667
00:46:34,720 --> 00:46:40,440
"or outlawed or exiled, or deprived
of his standing in any other way.

668
00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:43,360
"Nor will we proceed with force
against him,

669
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:48,440
"or send others to do so, except
by the lawful judgment of his equals

670
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:52,200
"or by the law of the land."

671
00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:55,000
And, "To no-one will we sell,

672
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:59,920
"to no-one deny or delay
right or justice."

673
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:03,480
'These few lines have been hailed

674
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:06,600
'as the origin of fundamental
civil liberties,

675
00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:09,760
'including trial by jury.

676
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:12,760
'An agreement between the King
and the barons

677
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:18,080
'had somehow ended up guaranteeing
the liberty of wider society.

678
00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:22,360
'To find out why, I went to meet
an expert on Magna Carta.'

679
00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:24,360
What the baronial opposition

680
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:27,960
were doing to King John
was clearly deeply controversial.

681
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:30,800
There were those who backed it,
there were those who did not.

682
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:32,920
And there was much to play for.

683
00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:35,680
John knew that,
the baronial opponents knew that.

684
00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:37,640
The loyalty
of the lower free-classes -

685
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:42,640
knights, sergeants and others -
could not be taken for granted.

686
00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:46,760
These were constituencies
that had to be mobilised, won over.

687
00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:53,640
'Magna Carta
wasn't just a legal document,

688
00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:59,160
'it was an exercise
in medieval public relations.'

689
00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:02,400
Copies were almost certainly sent out

690
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,600
to the shire courts of England,

691
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:11,920
and read out before the earls,
the barons, sergeants, the freemen.

692
00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:16,480
This reflects the efforts
by the baronial opposition

693
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:21,040
to broadcast the details
and the nature of the settlement.

694
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:24,480
'However, while the provisions
of Magna Carta

695
00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:27,080
'were being promulgated
throughout the kingdom,

696
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:31,800
'the settlement between John
and the barons was falling apart.

697
00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:37,480
'Within months, they were hard
at battle in strategic Rochester.'

698
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:41,160
John personally directed
the siege of Rochester Castle.

699
00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:44,280
Its eventual surrender in November

700
00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:50,440
was one of the few glorious moments
for John in his troubled reign.

701
00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:53,480
Not that he had long to savour it.

702
00:48:53,480 --> 00:49:00,400
Dysentery killed him the following
year. But Magna Carta lived on.

703
00:49:01,600 --> 00:49:05,920
'Magna Carta had been disseminated
far too widely across the country

704
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:07,960
'to be ignored or forgotten.

705
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:12,600
'Of what are believed to be some
40 copies originally distributed,

706
00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:17,720
'four still survive,
including the one sent to Lincoln.'

707
00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:23,160
At first glance,
it's not much to look at.

708
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:25,640
But it's had perhaps
more influence...

709
00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:30,520
..in English and world history
than any other document.

710
00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:34,280
'On two occasions
of the greatest historical moment,

711
00:49:34,280 --> 00:49:39,440
'Magna Carta would become a clarion
call against overbearing government.

712
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:43,920
'Preceding the English Civil War,
it was cited by Parliamentarians

713
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:46,560
'contesting the authority
of Charles I.

714
00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:48,000
'In the 18th century,

715
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:51,480
'it inspired the fathers
of the American Revolution,

716
00:49:51,480 --> 00:49:56,160
'and provided the basis
for the United States Constitution.'

717
00:49:56,160 --> 00:50:03,800
This is probably the most important
extant document in our history.

718
00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:14,200
'1215, the year Magna Carta
was signed,

719
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:18,480
'was perhaps the most momentous
in English legal history.

720
00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:21,760
'It was the year the law outgrew
not only the King,

721
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:24,760
'but also, the other great power
in the land.'

722
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:29,000
The Church may have enjoyed its own
separate legal system, canon law,

723
00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:31,240
but as we've seen, it
also maintained

724
00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:33,480
a strong foothold
in the common law,

725
00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:37,360
because only a cleric
could preside over trials by ordeal.

726
00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:40,800
In 1215, that all changed

727
00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:44,280
for reasons that had nothing to do
with events in England.

728
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:47,840
'900 miles away in Italy,

729
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:50,480
'Pope Innocent III banned priests

730
00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:53,400
'from blessing ordeals
by water and fire

731
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:56,440
'on the basis that God's judgment

732
00:50:56,440 --> 00:50:59,960
'wasn't at the beck and call
of presumptuous mortals.

733
00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:03,760
'Following the withdrawal of
the Church from the legal process,

734
00:51:03,760 --> 00:51:06,520
'England had to decide
whether to follow much of Europe

735
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:10,840
'and adopt methods of proof
dating back to Roman law.'

736
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:14,920
English law was at a crossroads.

737
00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:17,960
It could have followed the route
favoured on the Continent,

738
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:21,600
where the authorities
would try to extract confessions

739
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:27,040
by torture if necessary -
the inquisitorial system.

740
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:32,200
Instead, England continued along
her own exceptional path

741
00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:35,280
towards trial by jury.

742
00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:41,520
'Over the centuries,
the role of "the man in the street"

743
00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:45,800
'had become steadily entrenched
in English legal practice.

744
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:49,240
'From the people who might back up
your oath in Anglo-Saxon times,

745
00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:54,080
'to Henry II's juries of presentment
who indicted local criminals.'

746
00:51:55,760 --> 00:51:59,320
'These juries were cheap.
They tapped into local knowledge,

747
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:03,000
'and it was both logical
and common sense

748
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:07,720
'that they should be adapted
to replace ordeals in trials.'

749
00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:12,640
Now it was no longer the Almighty,

750
00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:17,280
but a rather less exotic tribunal
that would determine the outcome.

751
00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:19,560
The judge would ask
the members of the jury,

752
00:52:19,560 --> 00:52:23,200
when declaring whether the accused
were guilty or not,

753
00:52:23,200 --> 00:52:25,800
to give a truthful answer.

754
00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:30,880
In the Anglo-French of the time -
aver-de.

755
00:52:30,880 --> 00:52:33,520
Our "verdict".

756
00:52:33,520 --> 00:52:39,240
'The first known English jury trial
took place in 1220.

757
00:52:39,240 --> 00:52:42,440
'A woman condemned for murder,
called Alice,

758
00:52:42,440 --> 00:52:45,080
'accused five others of criminality.

759
00:52:45,080 --> 00:52:48,400
'They submitted to the judgment
of their neighbours.

760
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:50,200
'In the phrase of the time,

761
00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:54,520
' "Putting themselves
for good and ill upon a verdict."

762
00:52:54,520 --> 00:52:58,280
'These neighbours decided
that one was lawful,

763
00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:00,760
'but that four were thieves.

764
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:03,800
'And they were sent to the noose.

765
00:53:03,800 --> 00:53:05,880
'By the late 13th century,

766
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:09,320
'juries were a familiar part
of English law.

767
00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:12,560
'Unlike modern ones,
they didn't weigh evidence,

768
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:17,280
'but came to a decision based on
their own knowledge or belief.

769
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:21,840
'For ordinary people to have
such power in a society

770
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:26,320
'that was in other respects full
of inequalities was revolutionary.'

771
00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:31,200
Your peers had been given
an authority

772
00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:34,680
that had previously
been the preserve of God.

773
00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:40,160
Your guilt was now decided in public
by members OF the public,

774
00:53:40,160 --> 00:53:43,200
independent of the state.

775
00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:49,440
The jury - the institution
that most defines English justice -

776
00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:52,560
truly begins here.

777
00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:01,920
'By the end of the 13th century,
we can see a number

778
00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:06,360
'of the elements of English law
that remain with us today.

779
00:54:06,360 --> 00:54:10,840
'A unified set of laws
across the country, the jury,

780
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:13,880
'the structure of local
and central courts,

781
00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:16,920
'a body of judges
who share and exchange

782
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:18,640
'their knowledge and experience,

783
00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:24,040
'and one other important part of our
legal system has begun to emerge.'

784
00:54:24,040 --> 00:54:28,840
Major civil suits often ended up
being heard at Westminster,

785
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:32,120
irrespective
of where they'd originated.

786
00:54:32,120 --> 00:54:35,560
But suppose you live
in a distant shire.

787
00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:37,880
Travelling to London
to plead your own case

788
00:54:37,880 --> 00:54:40,480
will certainly require
lots of time and money,

789
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:46,880
and dealing with an expert Justice
may be well beyond your capacity.

790
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:49,640
So why not turn to a new kind
of practitioner

791
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:51,520
who's come on the scene?

792
00:54:51,520 --> 00:54:55,520
Someone like me -
a professional lawyer.

793
00:54:57,160 --> 00:55:00,280
'In fact, then, as now,

794
00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:04,040
'there were two branches
of the legal profession.'

795
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:09,360
'You would appoint an attorney

796
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:12,440
'to act as your agent
and manage your case.

797
00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:16,640
'The word comes from the Old French
atorne - "to appoint".

798
00:55:16,640 --> 00:55:19,680
'But the actual pleading
of your case in court

799
00:55:19,680 --> 00:55:21,960
'would be done by a sergeant.

800
00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:25,560
'Attorneys and sergeants
were the equivalent of today's

801
00:55:25,560 --> 00:55:27,120
'solicitors and barristers.'

802
00:55:29,240 --> 00:55:31,040
'And by the later 13th century,

803
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:35,200
'there were around 30 sergeants
practising in the courts,

804
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:38,440
'and 200 attorneys.'

805
00:55:40,400 --> 00:55:42,640
'Business was booming,

806
00:55:42,640 --> 00:55:45,680
'and it was transforming
an important part of the capital.'

807
00:55:47,720 --> 00:55:50,160
Here's the famous Temple Church,

808
00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:53,800
built by the Knights Templar in
the last years of Henry II's reign,

809
00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:57,200
and preserved to this day

810
00:55:57,200 --> 00:56:00,560
as the chapel
of Inner and Middle Temple -

811
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:02,920
two of the four Inns of Court

812
00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:07,400
that have existed in this area
since the Middle Ages.

813
00:56:10,240 --> 00:56:11,680
'The Inns of Court,

814
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:15,120
'which also include Gray's Inn
and Lincoln's Inn,

815
00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:17,360
'have been training schools
for lawyers

816
00:56:17,360 --> 00:56:19,200
'since at least the 14th century.'

817
00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:24,680
'It was here that my predecessors
were lodged,

818
00:56:24,680 --> 00:56:27,520
'and learned legal procedures
and precedents.'

819
00:56:28,960 --> 00:56:30,760
'And down the centuries,

820
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:35,640
'the Inns have continued to support
and educate barristers.'

821
00:56:35,640 --> 00:56:39,600
The ceremony for York Hall
this evening will commence at 1800.

822
00:56:39,600 --> 00:56:42,960
'One of the Inns of Court's
most important responsibilities

823
00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:45,880
'is the formal recognition
of qualified barristers.

824
00:56:45,880 --> 00:56:50,480
'In a ceremony I remember well -
the call to the Bar.'

825
00:56:50,480 --> 00:56:53,120
GAVEL BANGS

826
00:56:54,960 --> 00:56:58,000
In the name of
the Masters of the Bench,

827
00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:00,440
I call you to the degree
of the utter Bar.

828
00:57:00,440 --> 00:57:04,080
'The Bar was the barrier which
traditionally separated the public

829
00:57:04,080 --> 00:57:07,840
'from the working area
of a courtroom.

830
00:57:07,840 --> 00:57:11,000
'Today, men and a women
from a whole host of countries

831
00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:14,640
'come here to qualify
from the very same institutions

832
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:17,280
'where England's first lawyers
trained

833
00:57:17,280 --> 00:57:19,240
'more than six centuries ago.'

834
00:57:23,920 --> 00:57:28,240
English common law has become
a model for legal systems

835
00:57:28,240 --> 00:57:29,840
all over the world.

836
00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:32,720
The secret of its survival
in England

837
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:36,240
is that it was never imposed
upon the nation.

838
00:57:36,240 --> 00:57:41,040
Rather, it grew and evolved
through many centuries.

839
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:44,520
The common law runs through
our national story

840
00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:47,360
like veins through a body.

841
00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:52,440
It has proved both robust
and adaptable, and it's had to be.

842
00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:57,280
'As it moved beyond
its medieval origins,

843
00:57:57,280 --> 00:58:01,880
'the common law would face
a whole new set of challenges.'

844
00:58:07,040 --> 00:58:10,200
Next time,
how the champions of the common law

845
00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:14,560
battled tyranny in the lead-up
to the English Civil War...

846
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:18,440
..signed the death warrant
of a king...

847
00:58:19,840 --> 00:58:23,160
..triggered the end of
the transatlantic slave trade,

848
00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:27,200
and secured the liberties
we still enjoy today.

849
00:58:45,640 --> 00:58:48,640
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