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Anglo-Saxon law (Old English: ǣ, later lagu ' law '; dōm ' decree ', ' judgment ') was the legal system of Anglo-Saxon England from the 6th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. It was a form of Germanic law based on unwritten custom known as folk-right and on written laws enacted by kings with the advice of their witan or council.
Anglo-Saxon societies were based on Germanic law and custom. Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, and Lombards became Romanized to varying degrees by the 5th century. Nevertheless, this was not true of the Anglo-Saxons, who originated from northern Germany and Denmark and had no direct contact with the Roman Empire.
A system of elective monarchy existed in Anglo-Saxon England (see Witenagemot). [5] John of England was chosen as King of England by a council of nobles and royal advisors at the death of his brother, Richard I, in 1199 because the heir by strict primogeniture, Arthur of Brittany, was a child at that time. This affirmed the principle of ...
[2] [a] The term 'Anglo-Saxon' came into use in the 8th century (probably by Paul the Deacon) to distinguish English Saxons from continental Saxons (Ealdseaxan, 'old' Saxons). The historian James Campbell suggested that it was not until the late Anglo-Saxon period that England could be described as a nation-state. [ 3 ]
The Anglo-Saxon kings had issued formal law codes, but Anglo-Norman legislation took the form of royal edicts. [26] The king had authority over the coinage and the "king's highway" (major roads). He could not be sued and had exclusive jurisdiction over certain crimes. [27] As a feudal lord, the king had certain rights and powers over his ...
A shire court or shire moot was an Anglo-Saxon government institution, used to maintain law and order at a local level, and perform various administrative functions, including the collection of taxes for the central government. The system originated in Wessex, then expanded to other parts of England.
The self-conscious antiquarian study of the law gathered momentum from the 15th century. It supported the theories of the ancient constitution. [4] In his Institutes of the Lawes of England Coke challenged the accepted view of the Norman Conquest by asserting it amounted to trial by battle, with William the Conqueror agreeing to maintain the Anglo-Saxon laws.
The origins of the English monarchy lie in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries. In the 7th century, the Anglo-Saxons consolidated into seven kingdoms known as the Heptarchy. At certain times, one king was strong enough to claim the title bretwalda (Old English for "over-king").