#english_history 

## New system of law
After the Norman Conquest nobles were allowed to administer justice among the villages, usually mixing Norman laws with the old Saxon ones. They had relative freedom to act.
More serious offences were tried in the king's courts.

Henry I introduced the idea that all crimes were a breaking of the "king's peace". At first the nobles acted for the kings on their own lands, but Henry wanted a common law system to be used everywhere. So he appointed a number of itinerant judges administering justice.
At first these judges used to rule out cases based on common sense, but by the end of the 12th century they'd accumulated enough knowledge.

## Trials and punishment
Before the reforms, there were two ways to check a man's innocence: by test in battle against a skilled fighter or by "ordeal". A typical "ordeal" was to put a hot iron on the man's tongue, and if the burn mark was still present 3 days later he was though to be guilty, as it was argued that god would leave the burn mark on a guilty man's tongue. But in **1215** the pope forbade the Church to have anything to do with trial by ordeal.

In England trial by ordeal was replaced with trial by jury, which dated back to the [[Vikings and the Saxons|Danes of Danelaw]].  Henry II had already introduced the use of juries for some cases in the 1150s: the accused man could choose twelve neighbours who would help him prove that he was not guilty. 
Soon enough the work of these juries gradually change from giving evidence to judging the evidence of others. 
Similar to the judges, at first they had no education, but in the 13th century law schools grew up, producing lawyeres who could advise juries about the points of law.