The Normanscntinued with the move away from the relativly democratic Saxon system to an autocratic system based on the manor court or leet. Knights of the shire were commissioned by Richard I in 1195 to take over the responsibility from the sheriff for ensuring that everybody complied with their duty of frankpledge or compliance with the law. This became known as ‘benefit of clergy’ and applied to anyone who could read who probably were clergy at that time. This was the same year that Henry II conceded that the clergy could not be tried by the common law courts for felonies so they avoided the death penalty. The Norman were still more concerned about imposing order on the Saxons than than any concept of freedom for the individuel. These courts could be held in the open but the site of Manor Farm is the most likely place for a ‘court house’. The Normans altrd the simple Saxon system Assize of Clarendon in 1166 defined the concept of frankpledge where the sheriff was required to hold courts in each hundred twice a year to ensure that everyone was accounted for and made their pledge of allegiance. Fines were imposed for many crimes including murder to prevent ‘tit for tat’ killings in endless blood feuds which extended to slaves but it was a time of rough justice. The Saxon system was relativly democratic and fair. There were a number of hundreds in a county or shire and a shire reeve ( sherriff) had overall responsibility in the shire. Ten tithings, in theory, were grouped to form a hundred and Chewton Mendip was the centre of a hundred.
FRANKPLEDGE SYSTEM HUE AND CRY FREE
Every free ‘man’ over the age of 12 was required to swear an oath to uphold the peace and to join a ‘hue and cry’ if required to aprehend or chase criminals. The Saxon tithing system was based on a group of ten families who were responsible for providing ten fighting men for the king and their own protection. Before that, the military were used to restore law and orderif the locals could not do it themselves.The badges on the left show the various phases of the development of the local police force.Copies of these badges wer supplied by Jerry Brice, the last ‘local bobby’. The civil police system as we know it was not set up until the middle of the 19th century when Sir Robert Peel set up the metropolitan police in 1829.
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