English Common Law System

Timeline

1. 601–1066England · EnglandBefore the conquest, customary law and local courts existed across England; hundred and shire courts handled local disputes, and accumulated custom and precedent provided native soil for the later common law, though no unified royal justice system yet existed.
2. 1066–1154London · LondonThe Norman kings established the curia regis (royal court) at Westminster, initiating litigation by writ and accumulating precedent through written records, gradually bringing local custom under royal jurisdiction and laying the foundation for a unified common law.
3. 1154–1189Westminster · LondonHenry II implemented the Constitutions of Clarendon and the itinerant justice system, established the general eyre, tried land tenure by jury, expanded royal court jurisdiction over criminal and civil cases, and greatly increased the types of writs, bringing the common law system basically into shape.
4. 1211–1220England · EnglandBy the end of John's reign, the common law court system covered the whole country. The 1215 Magna Carta established principles such as no arrest except by due process of law, restricted the king's arbitrary reversal of judgments, linked the common law to the restraint of royal power, and became an important milestone of Anglo-American constitutional tradition.