PROCEDURAL DEVELOPMENT IN MANORIAL COURTS OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

The aim of this article is to reveal the specificity of English medieval manorial courts’ – functioning in the 13th–14th centuries. It is an attempt to show in what way they correlated with the courts of the Common Law of England and what were their legal borrowings from the Common Law system. To reveal the procedural growth in the process of establishment of the main legal manorial institutions (the Jury, presentments on the basis of inquisition, documentary proof of the judgment) is also one of the basic tasks of the article. In what way did medieval English manor make the transition from ordeals, compurgation and “peasant halimots” to a more civilized procedure (adversarial courts) partly based on the Common Law legal principles? It is also worth bearing in mind that procedural growth in the manorial courts was closely connected with everyday life of medieval English peasantry, including influence of immemorial customs on its development. Fundamental meaning of manorial customs (and their links with everyday life) gives an opportunity to stress the formation and development of customary law, which may be regarded as an important regulator between manorial powers and English peasantry, maintaining traditional social, economic, rental, behavioral etc. rules in medieval English manor in order to keep «peaceful life» within the estate as well as to promote to growth of the lord’s incomes and to definite security of the peasants’ rights (especially in the sphere of valid yearly rents). All these important aspects of manorial life were vital for specific development of English medieval and Early Modern peasantry in historical perspective.

medieval England, manor, customary law, compurgation, the Jury, documentary proof, inquisition, presentment, Common Law of England