law enforcement (1066-1160)

• Foresters :

  To enforce the law, the King employed men to work as foresters to keep a watch over his forests. This shows the growing importance of the King and central government in law enforcement. Here, law enforcement was being used to show the King’s authority and protect his property.
• Tithings :

  The Normans kept the local nature of law enforcement by making every man join a tithing. They still had to take responsibility for the crimes in their group and capture the wrongdoer.
• Hue and Cry :

  The hue and cry was still used – most people lived in villages so it was a good way to enforce the law. Things were still very local as everyone knew everyone else.
• Sheriffs :

  The Shire Reeves became known as sheriffs. They still looked after local areas. If the Hue and Cry did not capture a criminal, the sheriff was informed and he would get together a group of local men to help him hunt down the wrongdoer. This group was known as a posse comitatus
• Deciding Guilt :

  These were controlled by the Normans. Court proceedings changed and were done in French and the records kept in Latin. Few of the English understood these languages.

  Trial by ordeal continued.

  The Normans introduced trial by combat. This was used in disputes over money or land. The two people involved would fight with swords or sticks to decide the case. The fight was to the death or until one of the men gave up. A person who gave up would then be executed anyway.