The criminal justice system changed over time from the centuries during the Anglo-Saxon time period to the centuries of the Middle Ages. Justice transformed from a savage way of punishment to more organized and civilized. The Canterbury Tales and Beowulf reflect the change, and even the continuity, of punishments due to legal justice of the Anglo-Saxon and the Middle Ages.
Anglo-Saxon Justice System
Justice System Overview
The way the Anglo-Saxons handled legal justice in their time period could be described as “primitive” and “almost all disciplinary.” The justice system in Anglo-Saxon times was not highly developed and was mostly focused on punishment for crime or issues of morality. (~Church and Law in the Early Middle Ages~)
Law Enforcement
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The primitive way of justice in the Anglo-Saxon times continued on into the Middle Ages, as it “tended to be savage.” (~Daily Life~) However, “common law was custom,” (~Medieval Expectations of Law~) and “early medieval councils show a degree of social awareness which is quite remarkable.” (~Church and Law~) They used imprisonment, but sparingly; “the keep seemed to have prison facilities. (~Daily Life~)
Law
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Overall, many aspects of the justice system in the Anglo-Saxon time period seemed to be similar to that of the Middle Ages. For example, the punishments were often handled directly, according to the crime. However, the Anglo-Saxons set a price to crime, using wergilds, where crimes in the Middle Ages had specific punishments. The justice system has continued to be important to societies for centuries to ensure order, and laws from the centuries of the Anglo-Saxons to the Middle Ages have either changed or remained the same, according to
In order to determine what the law was in the Elizabethan Age for crime and punishment, you must research crime and punishment in that age, the laws and the acts. In the Elizabethan Age there were many different crimes. Each of those crimes had their own punishment or punishments. They were very strict about what they could and could not do in this age. If you have ever thought about planning a crime, you would have to really think about the punishment you would receive.
Crime and punishment in Wendake communities and in New France was completely different, as the Wendat people based their legal system on reparations and preserving the community while New France’s legal system was based on religion and terror. According to records kept by French Catholic missionaries, the Wendat legal system emphasized compensation for crimes and prioritized social cohesion as opposed to individual punishment. For example, when someone was murdered, the family of the perpetrator arranged reparations with the family of the victim. It was a collective responsibility, so the entire family of the murderer was expected to pay for the crime. Accompanying the compensation was a public ceremony meant to heal the wounds of the victim’s family. Unlike contemporary European legal systems, there were no judges or individual punishments. New France, on the other hand, inherited their legal system from France and therefore did have judges and individual punishment. Although both systems attempted to create social order through law, their methods of doing so were different. While Wendat law focused on preserving the community and healing together, the New France legal system was based on the idea of terror as a deterrent to crime. Individual punishments were meant to terrorize the public and impress upon them the consequences of deviance. For example, convicted murderers were publically hanged and had their corpses displayed on gibbets. Criminals with lesser charges were
In this task I will write a report about comparing the roles of judges, lawyers and lay people within the English courts.
During the 17 and 18th century the British legal system was incredibly harsh, distributing death penalties for often minor offences, the aim of this was to deter individuals from committing crime. There was very
Crime and Punishment in the Elizabethan era was very unusual and cruel when we look at it from today’s standards. Punishment was very harsh and most things they did back then was completely normal for them but by today it’s insane what they used to do to criminals. Speaking of which whom they counted as “criminals” was insane as well as their definition of a criminal. The crimes committed directly affected the type of punishment someone one would receive for committing such an act. Crimes and punishments to us now seem completely wrong and just plain strange.
Having extreme, agonizing, punishments was not out of the ordinary during the 17th century. The punishments and crimes were very unsystematic, and often times very foul. There were punishments that were as minor as carting,and there were punishments as severe as the death penalty.Throughout the 17th century there were a variety of punishments for different crimes that were commited.
The world is always changing, with these changes brings new topics in which people can study for a future life career, for their enjoyment, and even just to learn new and exciting things. Every day everyone in this world learns something new. Some examples of what a person could study are: science, psychology, crime, English, and so many other topics. One topic that was shown throughout the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley was legal crime and punishment during the 1800s. Crime is an illegal activity or action that a person takes part in that can be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by the law. Crimes have gotten worse compared to the 1800s, but the way people solve crimes today has improved
Between 1700 and 1900 a system familiar to our eyes emerged as a result of important changes. The 1800s very harsh and a lot of crime was done in that time. The laws, punishment and jail were similar, also very different from today's. In the 1800s the punishment was much more survivor and stick to it more than now. If you lived back in that time, it was usual to walk the streets and you see a hanging happening. This showing the cruelty and none caring of the people and how harsh the punishment was.
A major change through medieval times were types of punishment. Usually, types of punishment relied on social hierarchy and the crime you had committed. Some of the punishments included being placed in stocks, have to drink poison, be pulled apart by horses, banishment and burnt on the stake. (Medieval punishment wikispace.com) (blogspot.com) (australia.gov.au). Most punishments purpose, were to torture people or humiliate.
Explain and critically consider the use of lay magistrates in the legal system of England and Wales.
Looking back into the 1800s, those accused of a crime did not receive the treatment they would nowadays due to the lack of freedoms they had. In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, the characters Victor Frankenstein and Justine Moritz were both unjustly accused, tried, and Justine was executed; similarly, a significant amount of people experienced the same unfair treatment in the 1800s (Shelly).
As probably studied in any law or history class, punishment in medieval times consisted of
Crime and punishment wasn't as easy in the 1800s as it is now. This research paper will inform you about the crime and punishment in the 1800s.
Further evidence of an expected standard of justice is found in “The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant” from the Middle Kingdom. In this story a peasant is hoodwinked out of his donkey by a conniving low-level official. Instead of going to the courts to argue for the return of his donkey, the peasant uses his time in front of the judges to attack what had become a thoroughly corrupt judicial and administrative system. The court sends him away with a beating, yet he comes back again and again to rail against the corruption of the king’s government (Shupak 4-5). This may only be a story, but it does indicate that ordinary people expected to be treated
The delivery of punishment has changed significantly over the centuries. Up until the 19th century in England, imprisonment was not regarded as a punishment, it was merely used while the offender waited to be sentenced to their ‘real’ punishment (Bull, 2010; Hirst, 1998). Corporal punishment such as flogging, branding and mutilation, death by hanging, and transportation to other continents such as America and Australia were common punitive measures through the ages, until well into the 1800’s (Newburn, 2003). Although these extreme penalties are no longer acceptable or practised by criminal courts in England or Australia, in some ways, the past has