ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book shows how the development of an efficient royal bureaucracy encouraged this process to take place at a remarkably early date in England. It also shows that the period between the late eighteenth and midnineteenth centuries was one of rapid change, as a new concept of order was imposed on the old 'open court'. The book examines the trial emerged as a ritualized method of resolving conflicts of interests; it attempted to settle specific problems arising from the administration of society's laws by invoking the principles of justice. It proposes how in the twelfth century a court might already be defined as a space enclosed by 'four benches'. The backs of the benches therefore formed the 'bar' of the court: the point at which its business was transacted.
