Law enforcement 1C

• The role of government in controlling crime increased.
• In 1166, Henry II reorganised the courts and set up prisons for those who were accused and waiting for trial. These changes were known as the Assize of Clarendon.
• Henry II ordered royal justices, called Justices in Eyre, to visit each county twice a year to hear the most serious criminal cases.
• Standard written instructions were issued to local sheriffs, so systems became more uniform across the country.
• However, there were some continuities. Townspeople were still expected to help catch offenders, and towns were divided into areas called wards to help with this.
• The local officials who had been called ‘thythingmen’ during the Saxon period came to be known as ‘parish costables’.
• In 1194, Richard I introduced coroners to investigate situations where there was a suspicious death.
• In 1195, Richard I appointed some knights as keepers of the ‘king’s peace’ in areas that were seen as unruly. In 1327, Edward II extended this system to all areas. By 1361, these had become known as Justices of the Peace (JPs) and met four times a year to carry out their duties.
• The Heresy Law of 1414 gave JPs the power to arrest suspect heretics.