Questions tagged [legal-history]
For questions related to how and why law has evolved over time.
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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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Which security is the social security number about?
Everywhere online this seems to be a given, no source even attempts to explain it:
If the social security number is about identifying an individual/citizen/taxpayer, why is it not called social ...
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Before Terry, did the Fourth Amendment require a warrant for all searches and seizures or only the "unreasonable" ones?
I'm trying to understand the direct meaning of the Fourth Amendment as best as possible. The Amendment states the following (emphasis added):
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, ...
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Other historical forms of punishment besides serving time or money?
I am currently undertaking a personal research project to create a comprehensive list of all forms of punishment that have been meted out by legal systems across history.
Common forms of punishment ...
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What is the origin and basis of stare decisis?
When, where, how, and why did the doctrine that courts must have regard to the entirety of the infinitely ever growing corpus of judicial decisions that came before that sub judice and align their ...
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Did any ancient legal systems require covenants/oaths/contracts to be made in the morning?
“Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent ...
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Were people born in the Confederacy eligible to run for president?
Since the Confederacy existed for about four years, presumably some number of babies were born there during that time. Technically, those people were not born in the United States.
When those people ...
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"Most junior counsel present"
In W.S. Gilbert's The Maiden Brief -- a work of fiction set in England in the mid-nineteenth century -- when prosecuting counsel does not attend due to another case, the judge calls for "the most ...
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How was SCOTUS established as the ultimate arbiter of federal constitutional matters?
As I understand it, in the early days of the US, it was held that the president had veto rights over laws that were unconstitutional. It was not entirely clear how these matters were to be dealt with ...
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Why are barristers in England and Wales not officers of the court?
In Assaubayev v Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 1491, in a discussion about the court's supervisory jurisdiction over solicitors, Christopher Clarke LJ said [32]:
Those who appear ...
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What is the shortest prison sentence ever given in the US?
What is the shortest recorded prison or jail sentence in US history?
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When did the American and British naming conventions for legislation diverge?
American laws seem to be named as, for example, the Trade Act of 2002, while British Acts of Parliament seem to use the same naming convention, except without the word "of" preceding the ...
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Why does the USA not have a constitutional court?
I know the Supreme Court of the United States will hear constitutional matters, but why does United States not have a judicial branch specifically for constitutional matters?
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Under the US Copyright Act of 1909, copyright lasted at most 56 years. When and how was that changed?
Under the US Copyright Act of 1909, copyright lasted for an initial term of 28 years, and could be renewed for an additional 28 years, for a maximum length of 56 years.
When and by what laws was this ...
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