Some of England's oldest surviving law, faces repeal after 747 years .....
 |
| Old Laws |
.... these are some of the oldest surviving legislation on England's statute books, and possibly anywhere in the world, but sadly are set to be repealed after 747 years.
Just four of the 29 sections of the Statute of Marlborough, passed on November 19th, 1267 AD under King Henry III, remain in force. Now two of the four - covering debt collection - are deemed surplus to requirements since new laws came into force last year. The act, often referred to as the 'Distress Act 1267' governed the recovery of damages ("distresses"), and made it illegal to obtain recompense for damages other than through the courts.
The full name of the law is "Provisions made at Marlborough in the presence of our lord King Henry, and Richard King of the Romans, and the Lord Edward eldest son of the said King Henry, and the Lord Ottobon, at that time legate in England."
 |
| Richard King of the Romans |
The full name of the law is "Provisions made at Marlborough in the presence of our lord King Henry, and Richard King of the Romans, and the Lord Edward eldest son of the said King Henry, and the Lord Ottobon, at that time legate in England."
The bit that really interested me in all this was the title 'King of the Romans', which in this case was held by 'Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall' (5 January 1209 – 2 April 1272), who was one of Europe's wealthiest men. He had joined the Barons' Crusade to the Holy Land, where he achieved success as a negotiator for the release of prisoners, and assisted with the building of the citadel in Ascalon in Israel.
The title 'King of the Romans' dates from the time of Emperor Henry II, and was principally created for the creation of a 'German King' (when there was no Germany), who was elected by the German princes. The title was usually given to a claimant who was likely to become the Holy Roman Emperor, which suggests Richard was a man of ambition.
The title 'King of the Romans' dates from the time of Emperor Henry II, and was principally created for the creation of a 'German King' (when there was no Germany), who was elected by the German princes. The title was usually given to a claimant who was likely to become the Holy Roman Emperor, which suggests Richard was a man of ambition.
However it wasn't a title that commanded much respect in latter times ..... either for real Romans .....
 | |||
| Tarquinius Superbus Makes Himself King; The Comic History of Rome by Gilbert Abbott à Beckett. |
..... or the mock Romans of the Middle Ages.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are welcomed, or even just thanks if you enjoyed the post. But please make any comment relevant to the post it appears under. Off topic comments will be blocked or removed.
Moderation is on for older posts to stop spamming and comments that are off topic or inappropriate from being posted .... comments are reviewed within 48 hours. I don't block normal comments that are on topic and not inappropriate. Vexatious comments that may cause upset to other commentators, or that are attempting to espouse a particular wider political view, are reviewed before acceptance. But a certain amount of debate around a post topic is accepted, as long as it remains generally on topic and is not an attempt to become sounding board for some other cause.
Final decision on all comments is held by the blog author and is final.
Comments are always monitored for bad or abusive language, and or illegal statements i.e. overtly racist or sexist content. Spam is not tolerated and is removed.
Commentaires ne sont surveillés que pour le mauvais ou abusif langue ou déclarations illégales ie contenu ouvertement raciste ou sexiste. Spam ne est pas toléré et est éliminé.