My British Empire

Chapter 134 Judicial Reform

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It can be said that the central government in England at this time is actually the royal court established by the king himself, which is completely different from the central government of the Ming Dynasty in China at this time.

It can be said that the central government in England at this time, including the royal court, the Privy Council, and the star court, were all set up by the king, mainly to hire them to help the king manage the country. And their salaries are paid by Edward.

It can also be said that the whole of England is the king's territory, and he can play as he wants.

Unlike the Europa continent at that time, England at this time was very similar to China.

It was popular in Europe at this time that the nobles and the king jointly managed the country, but what the king could really manage was his own immediate territory.

They have a familiar saying: my vassal's vassal is not my vassal.

But England is different. What is popular in England is that, to use a Chinese saying, it is the land of the king under the whole world, and the land of the land is the subject of the king.

In other words, the allegiance object of all nobles and commoners is the king.

The source is because William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, after he conquered England, distributed most of the country's land to the soldiers and soldiers who followed him. Therefore, even for knights and jazz, the land passed down from their ancestors was actually divided by the king of England.

This is equivalent to the direct establishment of a vassal relationship between the king and all the nobles, without a second hand in the middle.

And at that time, becoming a nobleman, even a knight or a local gentleman, required the consent of the Bureau of Heraldry, and the Bureau of Heraldry was in London, in the hands of the king.

Therefore, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Faris, can also serve as the head of the Privy Council.

The king is the country, so when troops are sent to fight, the king also pays for it, and the territories conquered also belong to the king.

It is also understandable why Charles I taxed later. He wanted to collect a little tax from the English in order to quell the Scottish rebellion. His royal treasury ran out of money, but the English refused, so they started fighting. .

This is not the case with the Parliament. First of all, this institution has been established for hundreds of years. It was established by the English themselves and forced the King of England to agree.

Because of the battle of the red and white roses, the nomination of members of the House of Lords is completely controlled by the king.

This is not the case for the House of Commons. Its personnel are elected by the people, and the king cannot intervene.

Moreover, the legislative power of England is in its hands, and the king can only influence the House of Commons indirectly through the House of Lords, and the control is not strong.

Therefore, Edward can only reform the Privy Council, but not Parliament.

The reform of the Privy Council is actually the same. Originally, it had set up many special committees to be responsible for specific affairs, but now it is just routine and centralized.

For example, in the Reformation, there was a church committee dedicated to reform matters, but the aristocrats in the Welsh border area were unstable, so a border committee was established to take charge.

After talking about the Privy Council, it's the army's turn.

According to Edward's original plan, the Military Council had two posts, the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the War, but now, there is no standing army, and the local militia is managed by the magistrate, so there is no Minister of the Army for the time being, only the Secretary of the Navy .

The Guards were managed by Edward himself and were not included in the central government.

After the Privy Council began to reform, Edward non-stop summoned the judges of various courts in London to start judicial reform.

The first is the Star Chamber Court, the Star Chamber Court is England's criminal court and also the king's lackey at that time, just like the Beizhen Fusi in the Ming Dynasty.

They specifically punish nobles who are not loyal to the king and even conspire to rebel. Members are composed of Privy Council officers, bishops and senior judges, directly under the king's manipulation. They do not use the jury system, but adopt the inquisitorial trial method popular in mainland countries, and can torture the defendant or witnesses to extract confessions. The scope of their powers continues to expand, and the punishment methods are very cruel.

This does not need to be changed, but Edward decided to change the personnel, so that he will no longer be held by nobles, ministers of the Privy Council, and bishops, but by commoners, especially those who are loyal to him, so they are easier to control.

Next is the royal court, which includes a civil privilege court that specializes in civil affairs, that is, the petition court; a fiscal privilege court that specializes in managing money disputes and land transfers; and a religious privilege court that manages the church.

There are also magistrates' courts that govern unstable places, such as the Northern Affairs Commission.

And the highest judicial body, the Chancery Court, which is equivalent to the Supreme Court.

There are still some messy courts left. For example, a mining area has a mining court, a port has a port court, and the Thames has a special Thames court.

If you were going to sue at that time, don't go to the wrong door.

In this way, the court basically became a judicial and administrative institution, and the complex judicial system was the magic weapon for the king to rule England.

Edward directly merged them together, collectively known as the royal court.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs is set up under the court, and the Court of Appeal is placed under it to deal with civil lawsuits; the Ministry of Finance is set up, and the Court of Financial Privileges is placed under it, which deals with similar matters; and the religious court is placed under the Ministry of Religion to deal with religious affairs.

And these court departments directly manage various types of local courts, reaching the level of vertical management.

As for the local court, Edward is going to abolish it, and then set up the local government in Edward's mind.

The Court of Justice is used as the Supreme Court, in which there are nine justices, all appointed by the king, who are entrusted by Edward with the task of managing the huge royal court, and they will also handle some difficult problems and cases.

Moreover, England's lawyer qualification certificate is also issued by them.

It can be said that they are really high-ranking and powerful!

Of course, the most important point is that Edward has drawn out the sequence of judicial officers, and judicial officials will be promoted according to this promotion in the future.

The first is a trainee judge, who becomes an assistant to hundreds of local household heads. In three years, if he makes no mistakes, he will be promoted to a magistrate judge, that is, a judge in a hundred household districts. After five years, the top few with the highest detection rate will become county judges. The judge of the court, after five years, transfers to another county to serve, and then if he does well, he will become a county justice.

In the future, depending on his performance, he will come to London to serve as the deputy minister of any department of the royal court, and then he will be the minister and the chief justice.

Trainee judges earn £20 a year, magistrates £50 to £200. The money is all local responsibility.

Only in London, the king is in charge, with a minimum of two hundred pounds a year.

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