Henry's Great Work for justice, the Army, and the Finances

With the feudal uprising suppressed, Henry at once prepared to go on with his great work of improving local methods of justice and of extending the royal authority from Westminster out into the shires. Even in 1166, in the midst of his troubles with Becket, he had found time to issue an ordinance called the Assize of Clarendon.' By this assize he had instructed his sheriffs, in every case of murder, robbery, and theft, to summon the men of the hundred and of the wills near which the crime occurred, to make inquiry of them regarding it, and to arrest the man whom the villagers accused. This was the first application of the inquest to matters of justice, and did away with the old method of calling in oath-helpers, compurgators. The accused was then taken by the sheriff before the justice whom the king sent from Westminster to hear pleas of the crown in the shires. The abuse of the unusual power given to the sheriff by this assize was in part responsible for Henry's attack on the sheriffs in 1170.

In 1176 by the Assize of Northampton the king revised the Assize of Clarendon, omitting all reference to the sheriffs and enlarging and defining the powers of the justices of the king, who henceforth became the chief representatives of royal justice in the local districts. These itinerant justices, travelling on circuit through the shires, were to take cognizance of forgery and arson, as well as of murder and robbery, and were to make inquiry through twelve of the most lawful knights of the hundred, or if knights could not be obtained, through twelve qualified freemen of the hundred and four men from each vill, regarding the circumstances of such crimes.

The matters that the justices were to ask about were not at first very exactly defined, and they received new instructions each time they set out on the circuit. One of these instructions, called the Articles of the Eyre, exists for the year 1194, and shows that at that time very full powers had been given to the justices and that the list of pleas of the crown was growing in length. In these same instructions there appears a new officer, crowner, or coroner, to be elected in the county court from among the knights of the county, whose business it was to take care of all persons guilty of offences against the king, and to produce them when the justices came into the county. It would appear that sometimes the coroners themselves tried cases of this character. The appointment of the coroner was distinctly a blow at the judicial power of the sheriff.

By the same assize the king took another very important step. He declared that in all cases where a man's freehold property was in danger of seizure by that man's lord, he would protect it in the royal courts. He instructed his justices to make inquiry, through twelve qualified men, regarding such property, and to do justice in all such cases. This extension of the king's justice weakened the feudal lord's control over his free tenants ; for after this, every free tenant looked not to the lord of whom he held his land, but to the king and the king's court.

A few years later Henry reconstructed the military system. He had already weakened the feudal army by encouraging the practice of scutage, and as he did not like to be dependent on hired soldiers, he increased and made more efficient the old popular levies. In the Assize of Arms of 1181 he demanded that every freeman should be armed and ready for military service. Knights, burghers, and all freeholders were to have, always at the service of the king, arms and armor according to their wealth. No one except a freeman could serve in the army, Jews were forbidden to have arms, and ecclesiastics were exempted. The itinerant justices were to summon local juries to determine the property of each one and to apportion the arms to be provided. In so doing they took the place of the sheriffs in all matters relating to the local militia. Thus was created a new fighting force for England.

In 1188 a financial step of great moment was taken. The summons for the Third Crusade had gone forth, and England endeavored to raise money by a special imposition called the Saladin tithe.' Hitherto the only general tax, Danegeld, had been laid on land, but now for the first time a tax was laid on

ARMOR OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY.

revenues and movable property. In determining the value of such property, each man was allowed to state the amount that he possessed; but in case his word was doubted, a jury of neighbors was called in to testify.

In all these particulars; judicial, military, and financial the king was creating a uniform law for England, was extending the power of his own officials, and was undermining the strength of the feudal -lords. And he was doing more : he was bringing the central and local institutions more closely together, and by using the inquest in all cases where possible, was increasing, the efficiency of the local administration and uniting more firmly crown and people. Henry's reign marks a momentous step forward in the organization of the government and administration of the English kingdom.