The History of the Common Law of England [35]
which might possibly introduce some of the Norman Laws and Customs insensibly into this Kingdom: And to that End the Conqueror did industriously mingle the English and Normans together, shuffling the Normans into English Possessions here, and putting the English into Possessions in Normandy, and making Marriages among them, especially between the Nobility of both Nations. This gave the English a Suspicion, that they should suddenly have a Change of their Laws before they were aware of it. But it fell out much better: For first, there arising some Danger of a Defection of the English, countenanced by the Archbishop of York in the North, and Frederick, Abbot of St. Albans in the South; the King, by the Perswasions of Lanfrank, Archbishop of Canterbury, "Probonopacis apud Berkhamstead juravit super Animas reliquias Sancti Altani tactisque Sacrosanctis Evangelis (ministrante juramento Abbate Frederico) ut bonas & approbatas antiquas Regni Leges quas sancti & pii Angliae Reges ejus Antecessores, & maxime Rex Edvardus statuit inviolabiliter observaret; Et sic pacificati ad propria laeti recesserunt." Vide Mat. Paris, in Vita Frederici Abbatis Sancti Albani. But altho' now, upon this Capitulation, the ancient English Laws were confirm'd, and namely, the Laws of St. Edward the Confessor; yet it appeared not what those Laws were: And therefore, in the Fourth Year of his Reign, we are told by Hoveden, in a Digression he makes in his History under the Reign of King Hen. 2 and also in the Chronicle of Lithfield. Willielmus Rex, Anno quarto Regni sui Consilio Baronum suorum fecit Summonari per Universos Consulatos Angliae, Anglos Nobiles & Sapientes & sua Lege eruditos ut eorum jura & consuetudines ab ipsis audiret, Electis igitur de singulis totius Patriae Comitatibus viri duodecim, jurejurando confirmaverunt ut quoad possint recto tramite neque ad Dextram neque ad Sinistram partem divertentes Legum suarum consuetudinem & sancitam patef acerent. nihil praetermittentes nihil addentes, nihil praevaricando mutantes, &c. And then sets down many of those ancient Laws approv'd and confirm'd by the King, and Communi Concilium,. wherein it appears, that he seems to be most pleased with those Laws that came under the Title of Lex Danica, as most consonant to the Norman Customs. Quo auditu mox universi compatrioti qui Leges dixerint Tristes effecti, uno ministerio deprecati sunt quatenus permitteret Leges sibi proprias & consuetudines antiquas habere in quibus vi%erunt Patres, & ipsi in iis nati & nutriti sunt, quia durum Valde sibi foret suscipere Leges ignotas, & judicare de iis quae nesciebant; Rege vero ad flectendum ingrato existente, tandem eum persecuti sunt deprecantes quatenus pro Anima Regis Edvardi qui es sub diem suum eis concesserat Barones & Regnum & cujus orant Leges non aliorum extraneorum cogere quam sub Legibus perseverare patriis; Unde Consilio habito Praecatui Baronem tandem acquievit, &c. Gervasius Tilburiensis, who lived near that Time, speaks shortly, and to the Purpose, thus: "Propositis Legibus Anglicanis secundum triplicitam earum Distinctionem, i.e. Merchenlage, Westsaxon-lage, & Dane-lage quasdam autem approbans illis transmarinas Legis Neustriae quas ad Regni Pacem tuendam efficasissime videbantur adjecit." So that by this, there appears to have been a double Collection of Laws, viz. First, The Laws of the Confessor, which were granted and confirmed by King William, and are also called the Laws of King William, which are transcribed in Mr Selden's Notes upon Eadmerus, Page 173. the Title whereof is thus, viz. "Hae sunt Leges & Consuetudines quas Willielmus Rex concessit universo populo Angliae post subactam Terram eadem sunt quas Edvardus Rex cognatus ejus observavit ante eum": And these seem to be the very same that Ingulfus mentions to have been brought from London, and placed by him in the Abbey of Crowland in the fifteenth year of the same King William, attuli eadem Vice mecum Londini in meum Monasterium