ABSTRACT
While the abolition of trial by ordeal was the most notable development in
thirteenth-century criminal justice, it was but one of many historical trends that caused the separation of English criminal procedure from that of continental
Europe. The four centuries from 1150 to 1550 witnessed rapid and fundamental
changes in all areas of economic and social life. Not surprisingly, the criminal justice system responded with new initiatives, striving to achieve efficiency in
law enforcement and seeking to control mounting violence, spurred on by pres-
sures of urbanization and the upheaval of economic growth and diversification.
Vast changes took place in daily life over the course of these 400 years. They
were marked by the decline of feudalism, a political system founded upon relationships between lords and vassals in which the king was, in many cases, no
more than the highest-ranking lord in a given territory. The feudal system of
government provided a mode of land distribution; along with ownership of lands, feudal nobles were accorded certain judicial powers over their vassals
and the farming classes laboring on their lands. In fact, the modern word “fel-
ony” is derived from an offense against a feudal lord. When feudalism collapsed, down also went the local baronial court and the administration of
justice fell once more into the hands of the kings.
