The History of the British Legal System and the Solicitor's and Barrister's ProfessionThe Evolution of the Modern Day Solicitor

During the 16th Century the legal process was hierarchical. At the very top of the

heap was the Royal power base, i.e. the King's Bench and Star Chamber. These

courts dealt generally with elements of treason and the protection of royal interest.

When moving down the line, the next is the Assize, the Quarter Sessions and finally

the Manorial and Archdeaconary courts.

While the King's Bench and Star Chamber dealt with direct crimes against the

Royal House and Parliament, the remaining courts dealt with the general

population and their crimes. The Assize courts were presented with serious

offenders which ultimately could be sentenced the death penalty. For example,

during the Chelmsford Assize of 1585, Thomas Gawdy and Serjeant Francis Gawdy

tried Richard Norry.

'Norry Richard, of Hatfield Peveral, butcher, indicted for murder. On 22 September

1584 at Hatfield Peverel he attacked Richard Duke with a pike-staff, inflicting

injuries from which he died on 29 September. Not Guilty.'

The next court in the ladder was the Quarter Session, where petty offenses,

administration and misdemeanours were tried. According to J.A Sharpe the

Quarter Sessions emerged from the 14thCentury Statute of Labourers, dictating

that the Justices were to meet four times a year to enforce legislation. From 1360

onwards the trial of capital offences could be tried at the Quarter Sessions. After

1590 however, they were generally left to the Assize. Occasionally there were

exceptions: an individual was convicted and hanged by the Quarter Sessions in

1654. It is quite amazing that the Quarter Sessions survived right up to 1971.

Further down the line was the Manorial court. This court tried minor offenses and

administered the transferral of land. For the social historian the most interesting

of the lower courts was the Church courts. Archdeaconary records are a font of

village gossip, addressing the issues of drunkenness, adultery and incest. The

courts even tried individuals for playing instruments on the Sabbath.

In 1668, the Archdeaconary Court tried in Braintree 'Mr John Lerkin et Anna

Hurrell for 'being a-bed together''. Mr Robert Poole was tried for 'lending his hog

on the Sabath Day commonly called Sunday'. In 1669, in Braintree, John Danby

from Wethersfield was tried for 'That he married his wifes sisters daughter which

is incest and not knowing whether her husband be dead or not'.

Punishment for petty offences was shame and humiliation. There were numerous

recorded incidents of ducking stools, stocks and of bespoke punishments thought

up for a specific crime. One such example was recorded in 1608 when John Taylor

was indicted for 'wearinge weomen's apparell'; his sentence was 'his clothes to be

cut and breeches to be mode of them & to be whipped thorowe the citie

tomorrowe'.

An accused would be presented before a judge and jury; counsel during this early

period of English history was rare. Other than the elite and highly educated men,

like Coke, there were arguably only the country attorneys.

During the 18th Century barristers were becoming a more common feature of

country life, and as time progressed their wealth and status grew. By 1739 a new

society was formed, namely 'The Society of Gentlemen Practitioners in the Courts

of Law and Equity'. This society endeavoured to protect the high standards and the

conduct which go hand in hand with the legal profession. Arguably, by the 1750s,

the barrister, lawyer and solicitor had established themselves as an organised

profession.

Before the establishment of the legal professions as we know it today, the accused

had to argue their own case in court with a direct confrontation between

themselves and their accuser. Other than in case of serious cases of treason,

defence counsels were rarely seen in the court room. The Treason Act of 1692

introduced the common feature of a defence counsel, and as time passed,

prosecution counsels were introduced for homicide. This can hardly be seen as a

revolution; it was more of an evolution. It was not until the 19th Century that there

was a distinct change. With a gaggle of Acts, for example the Prisoner's Counsel

Act 1836 and the Poor Prisoner's Defence Act 1903, counsel became a regular

sight in the court room.

References.

Beattie, J.M (1986). Crime and the Courts in England 1660-1800. Oxford: Claradon

Press.

Kent,J.R (1986).The English village constable. 1580-1642 a social and

administrative study. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sharpe,J.A (1985.) 'The People in Law'. In B.Reay (ed) Popular Culture in

seventeenth- centuryEngland. London: Routledge.

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