The Grand Assize (or Assize of Windsor) was a legal instrument set up in 1179 by
King Henry II of England
Henry II () was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. During his reign he controlled England, substantial parts of Wales and Ireland, and much of France (including Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine), an area that altogether was l ...
, to allow tenants to transfer disputes over land from feudal courts to the royal court.
Origins
Given the capacity of feudal justice for
delay
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, and the arbitrariness of its methods of judgement (duel, ordeal), 12th C England had ample room for an alternative method of settling property disputes; and Henry II – acclaimed by
Walter Map
Walter Map (; 1130 – 1209/1210) was a medieval writer. He wrote '' De nugis curialium'', which takes the form of a series of anecdotes of people and places, offering insights into the history of his time.
Map was a courtier of King He ...
as one "clever in devising new and undiscovered legal procedure" – saw in the Grand Assize a means of preserving social order, avoiding the violence of self-help in the countryside, and at the same time of increasing royal revenue at the same time through the judicial system.
'
Glanville' in his legal treatise termed the Grand Assize a "royal benefit...by this means men may escape the severe punishment of an unexpected and premature death.... For whilst the duel proceeds on the evidence of one juror, this assize requires the oaths of at least twelve lawful men". At the same time, "the assize does not allow as many essoins as the duel". Under the new procedure, four knights picked by the sheriff had to select a jury of twelve knights to declare (from local knowledge) the better right in the land in question - an important step in the ultimate development of the jury.
Development
From land, the Grand Assize was extended to cover such things as mills and local services as well. However, the
Assize of novel disseisin
In English law, the assize of novel disseisin ("recent dispossession"; ) was an action to recover lands of which the plaintiff had been disseised, or dispossessed. It was one of the so-called "petty (possessory) assizes" established by Henry II in ...
, originally designed only to settle possession or seissen, gradually came to displace the Grand Assize in questions of right as well, as a swifter process; and by 1202 the majority of cases at the Grand Assize were being decided by compromise.
[J. Baker ed., ''The Oxford History of the Laws of England'' (Oxford) p. 621]
See also
*
Assize of Clarendon
The Assize of Clarendon was an act of Henry II of England in 1166 that began a transformation of English law and led to Jury trial, trial by jury in common law countries worldwide, and that established assize courts.
Prior systems for deciding ...
*
Assize of mort d'ancestor In English law, the assize of mort d'ancestor ("death of ancestor") was an action brought where a plaintiff claimed the defendant had entered upon a freehold belonging to the plaintiff following the death of one of his relatives. The questions subm ...
*
History of trial by jury in England
The history of trial by jury in England is influential because many English and later British colonies adopted the English common law system in which trial by jury plays an important part.
Anglo-Saxon England
According to George Macaulay ...
References
{{Reflist, 2}
English laws
1179
12th century in law
1179 in England
English property law