How Did Henry I Revolutionize The Legal System

By 1100 King Henry I had already put into place jurisdictions, courts and customs that were well regarded by the people of England. However, after the Anarchy of Stephen and Matilda, the law and order that stemmed from Henry I’s reign was no longer. When Henry II, the grandson of Henry I, ascended the throne in 1154, the period of reconstruction and great reform had begun. He not only promised to reinstitutionalize the ideals of his grandfather that were spent during the reign of King Stephen, but the well-educated king will also revolutionize the common law system in England, making it uniform throughout the land, and much like we know it today. With the changes he brought about in way common law was practiced, he also changes English society and culture. Reforming the way the courts and community were involved in the legal system, they way the guilty were indicted, and the cases that he heard, King Henry II was a fundamental part of the new shape of the legal system that we know today, and why we consider him …show more content…
Westminster had starting hearing legal cases, even when they did not directly involve the royal law, and by 1170, legal professionals who specialized in hearing cases and later became known as the Court of Common Bench, had developed. Henry II also had judges traveling the countryside to judge legal cases. During Henry I’s reign, he had judges travel the countryside as well, but they didn’t judge the cases, they just merely presided over them. Local landowners would judge the cases based on local ideologies. With the Assize of Clarendon of 1166 and the Assize of Northampton of 1176 it made royal juries a fundamental part of the law system. And because of Henry II’s new design of the court system, the ideologies and rulings of the court were now cohesive throughout his land (Hollister, p