Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term justiciarius or justitiarius (meaning "judge" or "justice"). [1] [2] The Chief Justiciar was the king's chief minister, roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. [3]
The Justiciar of Ireland was an office established during the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland and was a key tool in its colonisation. Following the conquest of the Principality of Wales in the 13th century, the areas that became personal fiefs of the English monarchs were placed under the control of the Justiciar of North Wales and the Justiciar of South Wales.
A similar office was formed in Scotland, although there were usually two or three – the Justiciar of Scotia, the Justiciar of Lothian and, in the 13th century, the Justiciar of Galloway. These offices later evolved into a national one called Lord Justice-General. The modern title is Lord President of the Court of Session.
Similar positions existed in continental Europe, particularly in Norman Italy and in Sweden.
In Norman England, kings enlarged the scope of royal justice by delegating judicial authority to members of the curia regis (Latin for "king's court"). These were called justiciars. [4] Henry I (r. 1100–1135) appointed local justiciars to supervise a county or group of counties. [3] It was not until the reign of Henry II (1154–1189) that the title was exclusively applied to the king's chief minister. [5]
After the Norman Conquest of 1066, the King of England was also Duke of Normandy and divided his time between the two territories. In his absence, William the Conqueror (r. 1066–1087) temporarily delegated viceroyal authority to trusted officers described variously as regent, custodian, and prefect. When William Rufus (r. 1087–1100) became king, this temporary role developed into a more permanent and defined office. Rufus entrusted the control of government administration to his chaplain, Bishop Ranulf Flambard of Durham. Flambard ran the government at all times, even when Rufus lived in England. [6] Historian Frank Barlow argues that Flambard was the first chief justiciar. [7] While Flambard was probably the first to exercise the powers of a chief justiciar, he never held that rank officially. Nevertheless, he was described by contemporary chronicler Orderic Vitalis as a justiciarius. [5]
Sometime around 1107 or 1108, Henry I appointed his chancellor, Roger of Salisbury, as the first chief justiciar. Roger was described by chroniclers as secundus a rege (Latin for "second from the king"). Roger oversaw the administration of justice, ecclesiastical appointments, and royal finances. According to the chronicler Symeon of Durham, Roger made most decisions for the royal government. Historian Bryce Lyon writes that "Roger was a sort of medieval prime minister but a minister immeasurably more powerful because his only responsibility was to his lord the king." [8]
The chief justiciar was responsible for directing the royal household, the curia regis, and the government departments. Nevertheless, he was not a member of the household. He was the presiding officer of the exchequer and directed the procedures of the curia regis as the chief royal justice. He also supervised the itinerant justices. [9]
The chief justiciar was invariably a great noble or churchman, and the office became very powerful and important; enough to be a threat to the king. The last great justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent, was removed from office in 1232, and the chancellor soon took the position formerly occupied by the chief justiciar as second to the king in dignity, as well as in power and influence. Under King Edward I, the office of justiciar was replaced by separate heads for the three branches into which the King's Court was divided – justices of the Court of Common Pleas, justices of the Court of King's Bench, and barons of the Court of Exchequer. [10]
| Name [11] | Term | King(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Roger of Salisbury | 1102–1116? | Henry I |
| Ralph Basset | 1116 | |
| Richard Basset (Justiciar) | ||
| Roger of Salisbury | ?–1139 | Stephen |
| Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester | 1154–68 (jointly with Richard de Luci) | Henry II |
| Richard de Luci | 1154–79 | |
| Ranulf de Glanville | 1180–89 | |
| Richard I | ||
| William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex | 1189 (jointly with Hugh de Puiset) | |
| Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham | December 1189 – April 1190 [12] | |
| William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely | 1189–91 | |
| Walter de Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen | 1191–93 | |
| Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury | 1194–98 | |
| Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex | 11 July 1198 – 14 October 1213 [13] | |
| John | ||
| Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester | 1213–1215 | |
| Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent | 1215–1232 | |
| Henry III | ||
| Stephen de Segrave | ?–1234 [12] | |
| Hugh Bigod | 1258–60 | |
| Hugh le Despencer | 1260 – May 1261, July 1263 – 4 August 1265 [12] | |
| Philip Basset | May 1261 – July 1263 [12] |
In Scotland, justiciars were the king's lieutenants for judicial and administrative purposes. The office was established in the 12th century, either by Alexander I or by his successor, David I. [10] The title of 'Justiciar' was reserved for two or three high officials, the chief one—the Justiciar of Scotia—having his jurisdiction to the north of the River Forth. The Justiciar of Lothian dealt with the part of the kingdom south of the Forth-Clyde line. [10] The role of justiciar evolved into the current Lord Justice-General, the head of the High Court of Justiciary, head of the judiciary in Scotland, and a member of the Royal Household. The Duke of Argyll still holds the hereditary title of High Justiciar of Argyll, but no responsibilities now attach to it.
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Following Edward I of England's conquest of the Principality of Wales (1277–1283), the Statute of Rhuddlan established the governance of the areas of Wales under direct royal control. The new counties of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merioneth were administered on behalf of the king by the Justiciar of North Wales, while Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire were placed under the control of the Justiciar of South Wales.
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The title justiciar or chief justiciar was commonly borne by the chief governor of Ireland in the centuries after the Norman invasion of Ireland. By the fifteenth century the chief governor was usually styled the King's Lieutenant, with the justiciar a subordinate role that evolved into the Lords Justices of Ireland.
The title Justiciar was given by Henry II of England to the Seneschal of Normandy. [10]
In the 12th century, a magister justitiarius appeared in the Norman kingdom of Sicily, presiding over the Royal Court (Magna Curia), empowered, with his assistants, to decide, inter alia, all cases reserved to the Crown. [10] There is no clear evidence that this title and office were borrowed from England; it was probably based on a Norman practice instituted in both realms. In the 13th century the office of justiciar was instituted in several principal localities around Sicily.
In medieval Sweden, the lagman ("lawspeaker") was the judge, or person learned in law, for a province, an area with several local district courts. Since the position corresponds to the general meaning of "justiciar", "justiciar" is often used to translate "lagman" in English texts. Lagmän (plural) were generally also members of the Senate of the realm, an institution corresponding to the English Privy Council. Finally, the Swedish term "riksdrots" is often translated as "Lord High Justiciar of Sweden".[ citation needed ]
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Hubert Walter was an influential royal adviser in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in the positions of Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor. As chancellor, Walter began the keeping of the Charter Roll, a record of all charters issued by the chancery. Walter was not noted for his holiness in life or learning, but historians have judged him one of the most outstanding government ministers in English history.
Ranulf Flambard was a medieval Norman Bishop of Durham and an influential government minister of King William Rufus of England. Ranulf was the son of a priest of Bayeux, Normandy, and his nickname Flambard means incendiary or torch-bearer, and may have referred to his personality. He started his career under King William I of England, probably in the compilation of the Domesday Book of 1086, as well as being the keeper of the king's seal. On the death of William I, Ranulf chose to serve the new king of England, William Rufus.
Roger of Salisbury, was a Norman medieval bishop of Salisbury and the seventh Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of England.
Ranulf de Glanvill was Chief Justiciar of England during the reign of King Henry II (1154–89) and was the probable author of Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie, the earliest treatise on the laws of England.
Chancellor is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the audience. A chancellor's office is called a chancellery or chancery. The word is now used in the titles of many various officers in various settings. Nowadays the term is most often used to describe:
The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The lord chancellor is appointed by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister. Prior to the union of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain, there were separate lord chancellors for the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. There were Lord Chancellors of Ireland until 1922.
Government in medieval monarchies generally comprised the king's companions, later becoming the Royal Household, from which the officers of state arose, initially having household and government duties. Later some of these officers became two: one serving state and one serving household. They were superseded by new officers, or were absorbed by existing officers. Many of the officers became hereditary and thus removed from practical operation of either the state or the household.
William de Longchamp was a medieval Lord Chancellor, Chief Justiciar, and Bishop of Ely in England. Born to a humble family in Normandy, he owed his advancement to royal favour. Although contemporary writers accused Longchamp's father of being the son of a peasant, he held land as a knight. Longchamp first served Henry II's illegitimate son Geoffrey, but quickly transferred to the service of Richard I, Henry's heir. When Richard became king in 1189, Longchamp paid £3,000 for the office of Chancellor, and was soon named to the see, or bishopric, of Ely and appointed legate by the pope.
The Exchequer of Pleas, or Court of Exchequer, was a court that dealt with matters of equity, a set of legal principles based on natural law and common law in England and Wales. Originally part of the curia regis, or King's Council, the Exchequer of Pleas split from the curia in the 1190s to sit as an independent central court. The Court of Chancery's reputation for tardiness and expense resulted in much of its business transferring to the Exchequer. The Exchequer and Chancery, with similar jurisdictions, drew closer together over the years until an argument was made during the 19th century that having two seemingly identical courts was unnecessary. As a result, the Exchequer lost its equity jurisdiction. With the Judicature Acts, the Exchequer was formally dissolved as a judicial body by an Order in Council on 16 December 1880.
The Provisions of Oxford were constitutional reforms developed during the Oxford Parliament of 1258 to resolve a dispute between King Henry III of England and his barons. The reforms were designed to ensure the king adhered to the rule of law and governed according to the advice of his barons. A council of fifteen barons was chosen to advise and control the king and supervise his ministers. Parliament was to meet regularly three times a year.
Walter de Coutances was a medieval Anglo-Norman bishop of Lincoln and archbishop of Rouen. He began his royal service in the government of Henry II, serving as a vice-chancellor. He also accumulated a number of ecclesiastical offices, becoming successively canon of Rouen Cathedral, treasurer of Rouen, and archdeacon of Oxford. King Henry sent him on a number of diplomatic missions and finally rewarded him with the bishopric of Lincoln in 1183. He did not remain there long, for he was translated to Rouen in late 1184.
Roger of Howden or Hoveden was a 12th-century English chronicler, diplomat and head of the minster of Howden in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Hugh de Puiset was a medieval Bishop of Durham and Chief Justiciar of England under King Richard I. He was the nephew of King Stephen of England and Henry of Blois, who both assisted Hugh's ecclesiastical career. He held the office of treasurer of York for a number of years, which led him into conflict with Henry Murdac, Archbishop of York. In 1153, Hugh was elected bishop of Durham despite the opposition of Murdac.
Curia regis is a Latin term meaning "royal council" or "king's court". It was the name given to councils of advisers and administrators in medieval Europe who served kings, including kings of France, Norman kings of England and Sicily, kings of Poland and the kings and queens of Scotland.
The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the (landed) gentry. The nobility of its four constituent home nations has played a major role in shaping the history of the country, although the hereditary peerage now retain only the rights to stand for election to the House of Lords, dining rights there, position in the formal order of precedence, the right to certain titles, and the right to an audience with the monarch. More than a third of British land is in the hands of aristocrats and traditional landed gentry.
Eudo Dapifer ;, was a Norman aristocrat who served as a steward under William the Conqueror, William II Rufus, and Henry I.
Urse d'Abetot was a Norman who followed King William I to England, and became Sheriff of Worcestershire and a royal official under him and Kings William II and Henry I. He was a native of Normandy and moved to England shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, and was appointed sheriff in about 1069. Little is known of his family in Normandy, who were not prominent, but he probably got his name from the village Abetot. Although Urse's lord in Normandy was present at the Battle of Hastings, there is no evidence that Urse took part in the invasion of England in 1066.
In the United Kingdom, the Great Officers of State are traditional ministers of the Crown who either inherit their positions or are appointed to exercise certain largely ceremonial functions or to operate as members of the government. Separate Great Officers exist for England and Wales, Scotland, and formerly for Ireland, though some exist for Great Britain and the United Kingdom as a whole.
From the Norman Conquest of 1066 to the death of King John in 1216, England was governed by the Norman and Angevin dynasties. The Norman kings preserved and built upon the institutions of Anglo-Saxon government. They also introduced new institutions, in particular, feudalism. For later developments in English government, see Government in late medieval England.
