Questions tagged [legal-history]
For questions related to how and why law has evolved over time.
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In what sense is common law “of the people”? [closed]
A recent answer describes common law as being “of the people”. In what sense is this so?
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How did international/colonial jurisdictions deal with the combination of law and equity?
It seems to me based on preliminary consideration that as the majority of the British empire gained independence from colonial rule after WWII, the U.S. is perhaps at least somewhat unique in gaining ...
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What were practitioners of/at (?) Equity called when the courts were separate?
Back when Equity was separate from Law, were practitioners of Equity qualified to address the courts of chancery called “lawyers”? Or were they called “equiters” or some other different term?
Given ...
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Are writs rooted in equity?
Another answer I came across recently mentioned that orders for specific performance ie mandatory injunctions formerly called mandamus were writs. Conversely so were other writs such as certiorari. ...
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When did criminal discovery rules substantially form?
The apparent non-existence of any criminal discovery/disclosure in Anatomy of a murder (1959) has struck me as odd and wildly disturbing. The trial is just a series of surprises to both sides.
For ...
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Why wasn’t trial by combat invalid by way of desuetude in Ashford v Thornton?
The whole significance of the trial for which it is so widely studied is apparently the insight that desuetude basically doesn’t exist and laws are effective until they’re repealed. But then what is ...
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What did it mean to be “declared infamous”?
According to Wikipedia, in Ashford v. Thornton,
If the plaintiff said the word craven ("I am vanquished") and gave up the fight, he was to be declared infamous, deprived of the privileges ...
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What was "carnal knowledge against the order of nature"?
S152(2), Palestine Penal Code of 1936, makes reference to carnal knowledge against the order of nature:
152(2) Any person who:— (a) has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or (...
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Why, more specifically, were women not permitted to view the trial of Ashford v Thornton?
According to Wikipedia which in turn cites p 63, “Schoenfield, Mark (1997), "Waging battle: Ashford v Thornton, Ivanhoe and legal violence", in Simmons, Clare (ed.), Medievalism and the ...
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Was Ashford v Thornton heard at the Royal courts of Justice in Chancery Lane, London or elsewhere?
What physical venue was this 19th century Murder appeal heard in?
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What is the origin of the notion of the King’s “peace”?
There are magistrates (or justices) of the peace, which evokes memory of the justices of the peace act 1285, a statute. Then there is a breach of the peace and the various police powers and ...
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Was affray a common law offence before it was codified in statute?
Section 3 POA 1986 describes affray as a criminal offence. What was the status of it before this?
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Does the convention of “F. Last” have any legal significance?
I’ve noticed that legal correspondence sometimes addresses folks in the format of F. Last where F. Is the addressee’s first initial, and Last is their complete last name. What is the origin of this ...
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Has there ever been a common-law-only jurisdiction?
Is there, or has there ever been, any jurisdiction governed only under common law, with no statutory law?
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When and how did the adversarial aspect of the criminal justice system originate, and to what extent is/was it actually adversarial?
As I understand, originally all judicial courts derived their authority from the crown. So too, was the prosecutor in criminal matters referred to as “the crown.” So the crown is both the judge and ...
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What was the closest parallel to common assault prior to CJA 1988?
Common assault appears to have been defined by statute in the criminal Justice act 1988. How were comparable incidents prosecuted before this?
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Multiple *jus soli*
Until a few years ago, birth in Northern Ireland conferred citizenship in two states: the UK and Ireland.
Was this unique in modern history, or are there other similar examples?
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Where does the idea of entitlement to make submissions to a court originate?
The court originally derived its authority solely from the supreme sovereignty of the crown. But if the royal power is so supreme, then why are subjects allowed as a matter of apparently solemn ...
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What is the origin of the term “court” as a reference to the judicial institution?
Does the legal usage of the word court as in a court of law derive from the idea of a royal court, as an expression of the idea that the original courts of law were ultimately simple vehicles for the ...
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Why are some sections of the US Code formatted so weirdly?
There are actually two questions here.
First, why are sections not in order? You have 28 USC §1 through §6, which talk about the Supreme Court, then you have §41 to §49 (appeals courts), then §81 to §...
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When did indictments stop saying people were "moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil"?
Criminal indictments used to use much more detailed and flowery language than they do now. I was surprised to learn, while looking at some early U.S. documents, that they had retained a feature of ...
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Why was 36 Edward III c. 1 in French while 25 Edward I c. 1 was in Latin? [closed]
These laws were only passed about 65 years apart. Was there a shift from Latin into French during this period?
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What are (respectively) “Lords temporal and spiritual”? [closed]
In the opening clause of every parliamentary act seems to appear this phrase. What does each type of Lord refer to?
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Where when and how did the idea of “reasonableness” originate?
What period did it come into regular legal usage?
Did it originate as a judicial device first or did it begin as something that would be explicitly coded into statutes?
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Why are formal accusations of crimes called “charges”?
How and when did it come to be called this? What are the origins of the term “criminal charges”?
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Full text of Act of Settlement, 1781 - during the early company rule in India
Can someone please tell me where I can find the full text of the Act of Settlement, 1781 passed by the British Raj in India?
I tried finding it on the internet but couldn't find it.
Thank you!
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Why is the Crown Court called the Crown Court?
The Crown Court in England handles the graver charges known as indictments. Less severe criminal proceedings are heard in magistrates' court. Why is the Crown Court named Crown Court? Does it have ...
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Could any British statutes have remained in force as U.S. federal law after the American Revolution?
The question Are any British or English Acts of Parliament still in force in the United States? asked
Are there any Acts of the British (or English Parliament) in force before American independence ...
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What was the basis/reasoning for Pennsylvania's Supreme Court decision to declare the state old-age assistance program unconstitutional in the 1920s?
I read that
From 1918 to 1927 [Abe] Epstein served as research director of the
Pennyslvania Commission on Old Age Pensions. In that capacity,
he was instrumental in having the State adopt an old-age
...
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Equal protection, discrimination, and real estate
I am curious about the apparent success of ethnically restrictive laws on residence or property ownership after the fourteenth amendment was ratified.
Hansberry v. Lee, 311 U.S. 32 (1940) ruled that a ...
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What is the purpose of pardoning powers?
Various countries have pardoning powers given to either the president or the governor, this is secured as a constitutional right of the president and governor.
What is the purpose of such powers? Is ...
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What are some new examples of judge made law?
What are some recent examples of judge made law? (On both the criminal and civil side.)
I am not looking for interpretations in long standing common law. I am looking for development of a new ...
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Did anti Miscegenation laws concern themselves either more with pairings of black men and white women, vice versa, or neither in particular? [closed]
I wonder which was more common in the era of those laws, and that in itself might be off topic, but as the laws of coverture treated men and women fundamentally differently, I am wondering if these ...
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Why is it called Civil Law? What's "civil" about it?
Why is a civil legal system referred to as a system of “civil” law? In what sense is it “civil”? Does the name derive from origins in or association with the civil code or code civil? In this case, ...
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Why does the high court of chivalry follow “civil law,” and what does this mean?
The English so called high court of chivalry, archaic and now rarely used, is said by Wikipedia to follow civil law (ie not common law).
How does this work, and how did it come to be?
https://en.m....
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What were the main factors prompting the abolition of heart balm torts?
What were the driving forces that led to it, what were the mechanisms that enacted it, and what were the stated rationales for it?
Adultery is still recognised as a fault factor in divorce that ...
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What sorts of “necessities” could married women enter contracts for?
A recent answer by @Ohwilleke on the historical status of married women lists the limited types of contracts they could enter into.
One of these of those for necessities. What is referred to by this?
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How was the court in Abingdon RDC v O'Gorman (1968 EWCA Civ) aware of Thornton v Cruther & ors (1769)?
At s23, the court cites Chief Justice Wilmot's decision in the 1769 case Thornton v Cruther & others, which it mentions is "unreported."
So how did the court become familiar with the ...
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How did the “American rule” as to legal costs originate?
At some point the US diverged from its common law ancestor, the English system, and the respective divergences came to be known as the American and English rules. The American rule is that parties ...
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What were the primary instigatory forces behind the 2016 improvements to the Housing Act 2004’s rent repayment order regime?
It is often cited what the reasons are behind the changes brought in 2016 to the regime. But which forces had brought the shortcomings that the regime was proving to have statistically and in practice ...
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What was the original idea behind the practice of courtroom wigs?
English judges and barristers have for a long time had to wear wigs. What was the intended implied message by the object aesthetic? What was the look of a judge or advocate wearing that type of ...
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What is "distress," as in "distress for rent"?
There have been several distress for rent acts in the 17th and 18th centuries, which provide a right for distress. What is the nature of this right and the origin of its name?
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On what basis is every Englishman presumed to know the laws of his country?
In a previous question's answer, @motosubatsu quoted a passage from James Bigg, Esq. stating this as a "legal axiom."
Where does this perception arise from?
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What was the impetus for the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861?
Why in the mid nineteenth century of all times was there seen to be an overhaul of the provisions which surely existed in other forms previously barring such age old offences as assault/rape/murder/...
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What was the most direct predecessor to Human Rights Act 1998?
HRA is said to be "constitutional." Which is slightly peculiar, as "constitutional" acts often precede the majority of a republic's other active statutes, and come reasonably early ...
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At what stage in history did intervention of courts become required for tenant evictions?
In England and other common law jurisdictions (I assume throughout most of the world in fact) a tenant doesn't automatically lose entitlement to their home once they stop paying rent for whatever ...
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Why did French have such a lasting influence on the English legal lexicon?
It seems so pervasive but, still confusing that we don't simply use French altogether for legal purposes, which I suppose was done at one time. But why were certain terms kept from French, while the ...
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Why do adjectives sometimes follow nouns in legal phrases?
For example, consider the phrase "bodies corporate." Would the more natural English construction not simply be "corporate bodies"?
Why is the former form so often used?
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What is the basis for the convention of referring to representative solicitors in the plural?
Often a party’s representative seems to be referred to in formal legal contexts as their “solicitors”, even when it appears to be a single individual who is managing the case on the party’s behalf. ...
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What does it mean that one may go by whatever name they like by English law?
It seems to be a long-standing and fairly fundamental perception in English law that people may assume or use any name they so like. I’ve seen this discussed in House of Lords decisions, possibly also ...
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