The Common Law of England

Abstract

This chapter traces the origins of the common law of England and explains its boundaries. It was brought into being through the machinery of royal justice as developed in the twelfth century; this was sometimes peripatetic (eyres and assizes), sometimes stationary in the royal palace at Westminster, and sometimes local (justices of the peace). Attention is drawn to alternative forms of justice outside the common law, particularly local custom, mediation, and arbitration. The second part of the chapter explores the boundaries of the common law in relation to the sea, the king’s possessions in France, and the law in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.