OUTLINE OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND LEGAL HISTORY. Until the accession, in 1154, of HENRY II. to the throne, we do not discover any of the distinctive features of our Constitutional Law. Trial by jury had then become fully established, although until the reign of Henry VI. this method of trial was in reality a trial by witnesses. By Henry II. however justiciaries were appointed to try criminal cases in the king's name, and instead of trial by battle the Assiza was substituted by Chief Justice Glanville. The Constitutions of Clarendon defining the limits between the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and to prevent the encroachments of the clergy, were enacted in 1164 by this monarch, whose memorable dispute on the subject with Thomas A'Beckett is known to every student of history. The reign of this monarch was also remarkable for the endeavours of the monarch to lessen the power of the nobles, and to abolish the distinction between the English and the Norman races. RICHARD I. was the next monarch, and reigned ten years. The time of legal memory when a prescription is claimed as at common law is reckoned from this king's accession, which was in 1189. In this reign the laws of Oleron relating to maritime affairs were made, when the king was at the island of Oleron. In 1199, JOHN succeeded to the crown. During his reign the foundations of English liberty were laid. There was, indeed, a charter of Henry I. in existence, but its provisions were mainly intended to redress several hardships of the feudal system. The infamous character of John, and the events which gave rise to the grant of Magna Charta by that monarch are too well known to need to be noticed here. By Magna Charta, the worst grievances of every military tenant in England were redressed. The Court of Common Pleas was required to be held in a fixed place, a freeman was to be amerced according to the nature of his crime, and justices of assize were to visit each county four times a year. Commercial relations were also promoted by Magna Charta, clause 41 being: "All merchants shall have safe and secure conduct to go out of, and to come into England, and to stay there, and to pass as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and allowed customs without any evil tolls, except in time of war, or when they are of any nation at war with us. And if there be found any such in our land in the beginning of the war, they shall be attached without damage to their bodies or goods until it be known to us or our chief justiciary how our merchants be treated in the nation at war with us; and if ours be safe there, the others shall be safe in our dominions." The essential clauses of Magna Charta are those which secure the personal liberty and property of every subject. They are: 39. No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or banished, or any ways destroyed, nor will we pass upon him unless by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land; and 40. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or delay to any man, either justice or right. To Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, England, is mainly indebted for this Charter, that Prelate having been the principal adviser and instigator of the barons who withstood John, and compelled that despot, by force of arms, to accede to what has been truly termed "the bulwark of our constitution." John was succeeded in 1216 by his son, named HENRY III. At the time of his accession, Henry was but ten years of age, and a regency accordingly took place until the monarch became of age in 1223. During the regency, Louis, the son of Philip of France, was |