Middle Ages

Trial By Jury

• Charlemagne replaced trial by ordeal with trial by panel, which we eventually took up to form trial by jury.
• Trial by Jury was made to make imprisoning people fair.

Common Law

• The common laws were made during the Middle Ages in the King's court in England and are still in use now.
• The Common Laws refer to unwritten laws that apply to everyone.

Magna Carta

• The Magna Carta is a charter agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede and rebel barons.
• It pledged the protection of the rights of the church and for the barons from illegal imprisonment, but neither King John nor the barons could respect the promised agreements and the charter was later annulled.

Parliament

• Parliament began as a meeting between the King and "councils" to discuss matters of state and law.
• They later made a council that met with the King and called it the "Model Parliament."

Independent Judiciary

• Judicial independence means that the judiciary branch needs to be separated from the rest of the branches of government.
• This happened because the Kings of England soon became less involved in the Judicial part of the government.

Habeas Corpus

• Habeas Corpus was used (and still is) when a person reveals what they think was a wrongful imprisonment to the King. The prison official then decides if they think their imprisonment was just or not.

Today we use trial by jury as a fair way for a jury to make a decision. We use common law for judges to decide individual cases, they are also for future cases. The Magna Carta is still in use today, it gives people right to justice and to a fair trial. The Parliament makes laws today. Habeas Corpus is not in use today. Independent Judiciary is the same today as it was in the medieval ages, it separates the judiciary part of the government from the rest.