Sir Frederick Pollock, 3rd Baronet Quotes

This required much of the population to maintain and bear arms. Another part of the law required the arms-bearers to be at the service of the king and as such was the king's militia.

The code provided for trial by jury and for proportional taxation on property. It was called “The Duke’s Laws” in recognition of the English Duke of York from whom authority in the colony then derived as the English supplanted the Dutch.

A fief was an estate of land and people. The man who had the title to the fief was obligated to raise troops from his estates and lead then at the command of the King. Women, under English law could not inherit a fief—it went to the oldest son. However, once the military element of fiefdom was eliminated, Johnson saw no reason why women should no longer inherit feifs and the titles that went with them.

In the reign of King Stephen of England, 1135-1154

Then, as now, there were some who claimed there should be a larger role for Christianity in American law and governance. One such view in the first half of the 19th century was that whatever was unspecified in the Constitution deferred to the common law. England had an official state Christian church and therefore Christianity must have been a part of English common law and hence should be a significant part of American law and governance. Jefferson was one of the many leaders who refuted the notion by pointing out that the common law in England predated Christianity.

Cities operated on an entirely different plane than the rural countryside which was divided up and given to nobles and the peasants on the land were serfs—virtual slaves to the noble. Cities allowed more equality, opportunity, freedom, modernity, and education. However, serfs would vote with their feet and move into cities leaving the princes devoid of their surf labor. The Emperor tried to stave off this trend by preventing the cities from admitting the surfs who were otherwise generally welcome as they, like immigrants classically provided an excellent source of compliant, low cost labor. Ironically, there are third world countries who even in modern times are trying to restrict the immigration of peasants to the cities.

He was a zealous monarchist who used all means necessary to defend the monarchy of Queen Isabel II.

This quotation illustrates how the power and mechanism of an established church operated to control ideas and maintain theological monopoly. In this case, no one could sell or rent any facility in the city to a cleric or church of any kind or persuasion without first having the approval of the Bishop who had theological control of that territory. Even Catholic scholars could not rent a room in the city unless their scholarship met with the Bishop’s approval. This was history with which the American Founding were very familiar, and wanted to avoid by adopting the 1st Amendment.

This early form of estate tax was a very popular act, as inheritors no longer had to pay the full "market price" of the estate to the state in order for the family to continue possession. Thus the estate tax was a welcome alternative for the then wealthy families.

William the Conqueror. In Wager of Battle—often called “trial by combat”, a guilty person could challenge his accuser to combat. If the accuser won, the person must have been guilty; if the accused person won, he must have been falsely accused. It was assumed that this method gave God a clear opportunity to do justice. As silly as this appears to us today, at the time, most people believed that God was indeed looking at every event and would intercede to be sure that justice would prevail. In reality, it allowed the stronger men with good weapons skills to literally get away with murder or anything else. A similar logic operated with the Ordeal of Iron and other so called “ordeals”. In the ordeal by iron, the accused was required to lift a red hot iron rod. He would of course be burned. If the burn healed, God was showing that he was innocent. But if the burn festered and got infected, God was showing that he was guilty. If he didn’t die of gangrene or other infection, he could then be executed or otherwise punished. In England the Ordeal by Iron commanded by King William was abolished in 1215. Some scholars argued that there was a method to the madness of trial by ordeal. If most people were so religious or superstitious that they believed that God would be sure that the right outcome would prevail. A false accuser would recant rather than expose himself to almost certain death in combat with an innocent person who God would surely protect. Of course the pious people would be at a great disadvantage to the non-believers who would not be intimidated. Trial by combat lasted much longer and evolved into dueling which was quite prevalent in America until later in the 19th century.