My British Empire

  Chapter 134 Judicial Reform

  ps: Ask for tickets, ask for collection, there is another chapter around twelve o'clock

  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.

  Different from Europa at that time, England and China at this time were very similar.

  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 directly subordinate territory.

   They are popular with everyone's familiar words: my vassal's vassal is not my vassal.

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

   That is to say, the object of allegiance 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.

  That's why Faris, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 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. .

  The Parliament is not the case. 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 War of the Red and White Roses, the nomination of members of the House of Lords is completely controlled by the king.

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

  And the legislative power of England is in its hands, 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 the 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 aristocracy in the Welsh border area was unstable, so a border committee was set up 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 started reforming, Edward non-stop summoned the judges of various courts in London to start the judicial reform.

  First of all, the Star Chamber Court, the Star Chamber Court was England’s criminal court and 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 or 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.

   There is no need to change this, but Edward decided to change the personnel, so that he would be nobility, the Privy Council minister, and the bishop, but civilians, especially those who are loyal to him, are more likely to be controlled.

  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; a religious privilege court that manages the church.

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

   and the highest judicial body, the Chamber of Chancery, which is the equivalent of 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 River has a special Thames River court.

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

   In this way, the court has basically become a judicial and administrative institution, and the complex judicial system is 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 brought under its banner to deal with civil litigation;

  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, among which there are nine justices, all appointed by the king. They 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 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 the 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.

  The annual salary of trainee judges is 20 pounds, and that of magistrates is 50 to 200 pounds. The money is all local responsibility.

   As long as you go to London to serve, the king will be responsible, with a minimum of two hundred pounds per year.

  (end of this chapter)