Medieval Justice

[Arthes]

Not quite our time period, but I couldn't help but giggle at the journalists name.....!

Medieval Justice Not So Medieval
By Heather Whipps

Labeling idleness a crime may have been a bit strict, but the justice system in medieval England should never be considered backwards.
Punishments for offenses in those days were perhaps even more sensible and humane than they are now, say some historians
Full story

[tlclark]

Thanks for the link!

There's an interesting article called "Was there a 'Renaissance' for Women?" although I can't remember the citation or author.

The premise was that at the dawn of the Renaissance there was a huge series of misogynistic law 'reforms' that ended up weakening penalties for rape, taking away property rights for widows and daughters and many other advantages that had been given to women over the course of the middle ages.

By comparison to most nations, especially English common law of the 16th - 19th C. the legal codes of Medieval Europe and Rome were quite enlightened when it came to women and lower classes.

Travis

[Carlton Bach]

There's an interesting article called "Was there a 'Renaissance' for Women?" although I can't remember the citation or author.

The premise was that at the dawn of the Renaissance there was a huge series of misogynistic law 'reforms' that ended up weakening penalties for rape, taking away property rights for widows and daughters and many other advantages that had been given to women over the course of the middle ages.

By comparison to most nations, especially English common law of the 16th - 19th C. the legal codes of Medieval Europe and Rome were quite enlightened when it came to women and lower classes.

One of the interesting things that happened during the Renaissance is that the men in charge of governance, education and religion for the first time developed the instruments to establish a degree of top-down social control. The 1500s and 1600s are the golden age of social micromanagement because it is now thinkable and possible to impose on a community the values of its leaders, whether it wants them or not. At least in theory - there was a great deal of resistance in practice. That is why we find not only an increasing concern at the center with mores and conduct (kings used not to worry about whether their subjects swore, gave charity to undeserving beggars, or had premarital sex), but also increasingly draconian and arbitrary systems of enforcement.

[Tarbicus]

That is why we find not only an increasing concern at the center with mores and conduct (kings used not to worry about whether their subjects swore, gave charity to undeserving beggars, or had premarital sex), but also increasingly draconian and arbitrary systems of enforcement.

Nothing's changed then. I find it ironic that medieval times can be labelled as primitive and barbaric, yet we probably see far more executions worldwide than then.

Reading the web article, it seems to me that the communal aspect of law enforcement and punishment left the community feeling empowered, unlike today with its red tape and bureaucracy. Here's a story of something that happened in my hometown.

Drug dealers had been dominating a housing estate, with the area being gradually run down and getting more and more dangerous, and seeing more crime. So, one day the normal everyday residents decided they'd had enough, after putting up with the associated problems that had dominated their lives for so long. They barricaded the roads into the estate. Anyone who tried to walk or drive in had to state their business, and where they were going. If the wrong answer was given they were turned away. Sure enough, the lack of income for a couple of days had its effect on the dealers. Even the police were powerless to stop the barricade, or so they said, finding it more important to avoid a public disturbance :wink: :wink: Two days later the dealers moved out and I believe the crime rate has dropped significantly in that area.

In other words, they went medieval, judging by the article

Okay, I know the crime was probably merely transplanted elsewhere, but if more of that action was taken (non-violent but communally pro-active) we could see more of society's problems addressed?