Kingship, Law, and Society Criminal Justice in the Reign of Henry V

This book breaks new ground in the study of crime and law enforcement in late medieval England using the reign of Henry V as a detailed case study. Dr Powell considers the subject on three levels: legal theory - academic, governmental, and popular thinking about the nature of law; legal machinery - the framework of courts and their procedures; and legal practice - the enforcement of the law in the reign of Henry V. There exists at present no other work devoted to setting the legal system of this period in its social and political context. Rejecting the traditional view of late medieval England as chronically lawless and violent, Dr Powell emphasizes instead the structural constraints on royal power to enforce the law, and the King's dependence on the co-operation of local society for the maintenance of his peace. Public order relied less on the coercive powers of the courts than the art of political management and the use of procedures for conciliation and arbitration at local level.

Abbreviations; Introduction: Towards a new constitutional history of late medieval England; Part I: Law, justice, and kingship: Concepts of law, justice, and kingship in the age of Henry V; Part II: The machinery of criminal justice in late medieval England; Royal jurisdiction over crime and the structure of the legal system; Criminal legal procedure: The workings of the courts; Law, politics, and dispute settlement in local society; Part III: The enforcement of criminal justice in the reign of Henry V: England at the accession of Henry V: the legacy of disorder; The Lollard revolt; The Leicester parliament and the Superior Eyre; The settlement of the realm, 1413-1415; Henry V's policy of reconciliation and recruitment; The administration of justice, 1415-1422: The limits of law enforcement; Conclusion; Appendix: Criminal offences brought before the King's Bench, 1414; Select Bibliography; Glossary; Index