“I oft have heard of Lydford law,
How in the morn they hang and draw,
And sit in judgment after.”
See Neilson, Trial by Combat, 131, and authorities there cited.
[801]. Mr. Bigelow considers that such cases were numerous. See Procedure, 155: “The practice of granting writs of execution without trial in the courts appears to have been common.”
[802]. See Appendix.
[803]. The earliest known reference occurs in the so-called Leges Henrici primi (c. 31). Unusquisque per pares suos judicandus est et ejusdem provinciae.
[804]. Cf. Pollock and Maitland, I. 152, and authority cited. As there was no “peerage” in England in the modern sense (cf. supra, p. 237) until long after John’s reign, it is obvious that the judicium parium of Magna Carta must be interpreted in a broader sense than any mere “privilege of a peer” at the present day. Every man’s equals were his “peers.”
[805]. See Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. 578, n., for foreign examples of judicium parium.
[806]. “If a Christian bring a complaint against a Jew, let it be adjudged by his peers of the Jews.” See Rot. Chartarum, p. 93, and supra p. 269.