Introduction (by Richard Barton)
King Henry II (1154-1189) issued the Assize of Clarendon in 1166.
Note: an ‘assize' is a word with many connotations: it refers to a judicial
assembly, the decision(s) made by that assembly, and the formal judgment
issued in the case. So the Assize of Clarendon is the ‘judgment' or ‘rulings'
made by the king at his court in Clarendon. Henry's intentions (as gleaned
from the document) were to establish a more firm judicial procedure regarding
crimes. Its emphasis on the panel of 12 (or 16) men who were to inquire
into law, crime, and social order in their region is particularly innovative,
and is one of the precursors to the modern Grand Jury. The Assize
of Clarendon was also designed to check the independent judicial power
that local aristocrats had gained during the troubled reign of King Stephen
(1135-1154); it accomplished this by taking jurisdiction away from the
local courts (and hence away from the local nobles), and by returning it
to the crown. As you read this text, consider how it might be seen
as a tool for centralization. How might it have helped the king to
bring England under one law? What level of bureaucratic machinery
does it assume? Consider, too, the changes in the nature of government
and law that this sort of document represents - how does it compare to
the situation under Clovis, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, or Hugh of Lusignan?
Text of the Assize (from the On-Line Medieval Sourcebook, with modification by Richard Barton)
Here begins the Assize of Clarendon made by King Henry II, with the assent of archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons of all England.
1. In the first place, on the advice of all his barons an with the goal of preserving peace and maintaining justice, King Henry ordained that inquiries be made throughout each county and each hundred [a sub-division of a county] by twelve of the more lawful men of the hundred and by four of the more lawful men of each vill; these men shall swear an oath to tell the truth concerning whether in their hundred or in their vill there is any man cited or charged as a robber, murderer or thief, or whether there is anyone who has abetted any robber, murderer or thief in the time since the lord king's coronation. And let the justices inquire into these matters before themselves and [let] the sheriffs [make inquiry] before themselves.
2. And anyone who shall be found by the oath of the aforesaid twelve or four men to be cited or charged as a robber, murderer or thief, or as a receiver of them in the time since the lord king became king, let him be arrested and go to the judgment of water, and let him swear that he was not a robber or murderer or thief or a receiver of them since the lord king was king, to the value of five shillings so far as he knows.
3. And if the lord of the man who was arrested, or his steward, or his men [come to court and] demand [his release] by pledge within the third day after his arrest, let him be given up and let his chattels [be seized] until he makes his law [to "make your law" is to prove your case].
4. And if a robber, murderer or thief or the receivers of them shall be arrested by means of the aforesaid oath at a time when the royal justices are not due to appear any time soon into the county where the arrests have been made, let the sheriffs send word by some knowledgeable man to one of the nearer justices that such criminals have been arrested; and the justices shall send back to the sheriffs word of where they wish to have the men brought before them; and the sheriffs shall bring them before the justices; and also they shall bring with them from the hundred and the vill where the arrests have been made two lawful men to carry the record of the county and hundred as to why the men were arrested, and there before the justices let them make their law.
5. And in the case of those who are arrested by the aforesaid oath of this assize, no one is to have court or justice or chattels except the lord king in his court before his justices, and the lord king shall have all their chattels. But as to those who have been arrested otherwise than by this oath, let it be as it is accustomed and ought to be. [this provision implies the existence of two sorts of justice, royal and aristocratic; the site of the trial and person who possessed the right to judge the case thus depended on the procedure by which the criminal was arrested; if he was arrested by means of the new procedure instituted in clause 1, then the King was to be the judge and collect the fines; if a local lord caught criminals in some other way, then he could try them in his traditional court]
6. And let the sheriffs who have arrested these criminals bring them before the justice without requiring any other summons than the one they shall receive from the justice. And when robbers, murderers, thieves, or their receivers who have been arrested through the oath or otherwise are turned over to the sheriffs, the sheriffs are to accept custody of them without delay.
7. And in those counties where there are no jails, let jails be built
in a borough or in some castle of the king at the king's expense using
wood from the King's wood if it is near, or from some neighboring wood
(the source of the wood shall be determined by the judgment of the king's
servants); the reason for this is so that the sheriffs may keep in these
jails those men who have been arrested by the officers whose function it
is to do this and by their servants.
8. It is also the king's will that everyone shall come to the county
courts to make this oath [ie., the oath mentioned in clause 1], so that
no one should stay away on account of any immunity which he has or court
or jurisdiction which he has held; but they are all to come to make this
oath.
9. And let no one within a castle or outside a castle, or indeed within the honor of Wallingford, refuse to let the sheriffs enter his court or his land to view the frank-pledges and to see that all are under pledges; and let them be sent before the sheriffs under a free pledge. ["frank-pledge" was a system of peer responsibility for crime; every person would belong to a small group of peers whose responsibility it was to ensure that each member obeyed the law; the members of the frank pledge were also responsible and liable for any crimes committed by any individual member]
10. And let no one in the cities or boroughs have men or receive them into his house, land, or jurisdiction, whom he will not undertake to produce before the justice if they are sought; or else let him be in frank-pledge.
11. And let there be no one in city or borough, inside or outside a castle, or in the honor of Wallingford who shall deny entrance to the sheriffs into their land or jurisdiction for the purpose of arresting those who have been cited or charged as being robbers or murderers or thieves or the receivers of them, or outlaws or those cited in a matter touching the forest; but it is commanded that they help them in making the arrest.
12. In the case of someone who is seized while he has the spoil of his robbery or theft in his possession, if he is infamous [ie., notorious] and has a notoriously bad reputation, and has no warrant, let him not have law. But if he is not suspected on account of what he has in his possession, let him go to the ordeal of water.
13. And if any one, in the presence of lawful men or the hundreds, make confession of robbery, murder, theft, or the reception of those committing them, and should later wish to deny it, let him not have law.
14. Moreover the lord king wills that in the case of those who make their law [ie., prove their innocence] and are absolved thereby, if they have a very bad reputation and have been publicly and scandalously denounced on the testimony of many lawful men, they shall be exiled from the king's lands, to the effect that within eight days they shall cross the sea unless the wind detain them; and with the first wind which they have thereafter they shall cross the sea, and they shall never return to England unless by the grace of the lord king. And in England let them be [known as] outlaws, and if they should return, let them be seized as outlaws.
15. And the lord king forbids that any waif, that is to say a vagrant or unknown person, be given lodging with any one except in a borough; and he is not to be lodged there except for one night, unless he or his horse be sick while there, so that he is able to show an evident excuse.
16. And if he should stay there more than one night, he is to be arrested and held until his lord shall come to stand pledge for him, or until he himself secures good pledges; and he who lodged him is also to be arrested.
17. And if a sheriff should send word to another sheriff that men have fled from his county to the other county because of robbery, murder, theft, or the reception of those committing them, or for outlawry or an offense against the king's forest, let the second sheriff arrest them; and indeed if he should find out by himself or through others that such men have fled into his county, he is to arrest and hold them until he can obtain trustworthy pledges for them.
18. And let all the sheriffs make a list of all fugitives who have fled from their counties; and let them do this in the presence of the county courts; and let the sheriffs bring the names of these men [ie., the fugitives] in writing before the justices when first they come to them, in order that they may be sought throughout all England and their chattels seized for the benefit of the king.
19. And the lord king wills that as soon as a sheriff shall receive a summons from one of the itinerant justices to appear before him along with the county courts, the sheriff shall assemble his county court and inquire into all those who have recently come into their counties, since this assize was promulgated; and the sheriff ought to send these newcomers away under pledges to appear before the justices, or else keep them in custody until the justices come to them, and then produce them before the justices.
20. Also the lord king forbids monks or canons or any monastic house to accept anyone from the lower class of people as a monk, canon, or brother until his reputation be known, unless he be sick unto death.
21. Moreover the lord king forbids that any one in all England should receive into his land or jurisdiction or any house of his, any of the sect of those apostates who have been excommunicated and branded at Oxford. And if any one receives them he shall be in the mercy of the lord king; and the house in which they were shall be carried outside the vill and burned. And every sheriff shall take oath to maintain this, and he shall cause all his ministers, the baron's stewards, and all the knights and freeholders of his county to take the same oath.
22. And the lord king commands that this assize be upheld in his kingdom for so long as it shall please him.
[This copy-permitted text appears in the Internet Medieval Source Book, operated by Paul Halsall at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/aclarendon.html; it is largely the translation found in Albert Beebe White and Wallace Notestein, eds., Source Problems in English History (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1915). Some modernization of the prose has been conducted by Richard Barton]