Edward I and Criminal Law

The main theme of Professor Plucknett's Wiles Lectures is the transition from the local legislation of Anglo-Saxon times to the beginnings of the English common law under feudalism, and especially under Edward I's direction. Professor Plucknett examines the early laws, which were mainly the attempts of perplexed men in a harsh age to fix a value on human life and property, and to enforce the exaction of these monetary penalties: wer and bot and wite. He then shows how the common law under E...