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Settlement of Disputes by Arbitration in Fifteenth-Century England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2011

Extract

The history of arbitration procedures and extra-judicial forms of dispute settlement in medieval England remains largely unwritten. This neglect is no doubt attributable to the precocious development of the common law, which has monopolized the attention of English legal historians and left them little time to consider alternative forms of dispute resolution. Their main preoccupation, epitomized in the work of great scholars such as Maitland, Holdsworth and Plucknett, has been to trace the evolution of legal institutions, procedures and doctrine. Consideration of arbitration has at best been regarded as peripheral to this central task.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © the American Society for Legal History, Inc. 1984

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References

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29. For recent work on arbitration by magnates and their councils, see supra note 10.

30. Powell, E., ‘Public Order and Law Enforcement in Shropshire and Staffordshire in the Early Fifteenth Century’(unpublished D. Phil, thesis, Oxford, 1979) 318–32Google Scholar.

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32. The arbitrators’ award, from which these details are taken, survives in the National Library of Wales, Pitchford Hall deeds, no. 2482. Hawkstone and Burgh were leading members of the affinity of John Talbot, lord Furnival (later earl of Shrewsbury) and prominent in Shropshire county administration: Pollard, A.J., ‘The Family of Talbot, Lords Talbot and Earls of Shrewsbury, in the Fifteenth Century’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Bristol, 1968) 217–19, 233–34Google Scholar.

33. P.R.O., KB 27/663, m.55.

34. Rotuli Parliamentorum, iv, 32–33.

35. Powell, ‘Shropshire and Staffordshire,’ supra note 30, 291–99.

36. P.R.O., CP 40/615, m.342, calendared in Collections for a History of Staffordshire, William Salt Archaeological Society xvii (1896) 51Google Scholar.

37. Rotuli Parliamentorum, iv, 32.

38. P.R.O., JUST 1 (eyre rolls, assize rolls, etc.)/814, m.3.

39. P.R.O., KB 9 (King's bench, ancient indictments)/113, m.47d.

40. Cf. the claim made by Erdswick in his petition to parliament in 1414 that a murderous assault on him by Ferrers was only averted ‘par traite et mediation’ of Sir Thomas Gresley: Rotuli Parliamentorum, iv, 32b.

41. See for example J.T. Rosenthal, ‘Feuds and Private Peace-Making,’ supra note 10, 84–90; Storey, House of Lancaster, supra note 3, 155; Staffordshire County Record Office, D.1788 (Aqualate collection)/44/13.

42. Burton-on-Trent Public Library, D.27 (Burton Abbey deeds).

43. Ibid. no. 642.

44. Vernon and Maureward were from prominent landed families, while Pole and Lane achieved influence through their activities as county administrators. Pole was a Derbyshire J.P. for forty years and a regular member of all kinds of commission in that county: Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1216–1509 [hereafter C.P.R.] (London, 18911916) 1399–1401, 557; 1413–16, 113, 148; 1416–22, 80, 143; 1441–46, 469Google Scholar. Lane was a Staffordshire J.P. from 1413–37 and several times escheator and knight of the shire for the county; Wedgwood, J.C., Staffordshire Parliamentary History, 1213–1603, Staffordshire Historical Collections, 3d ser., viii (19171918) 199Google Scholar.

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46. P.R.O., C 1 (early chancery proceedings)/6, no.50; Burton Public Library D.27, nos. 648–50.

47. For the arbitrators'award, see Burton Public Library, D.27, no. 654. Cf. Rawcliffe, C., ‘Baronial Councils in the Later Middle Ages,’ in Ross, , ed., Patronage, Pedigree and Power (Gloucester, 1979) 87108Google Scholar, for the role of lawyers in magnate councils.

48. Burton Public Library, D.27, nos. 659, 674. For another arbitration involving Burton abbey in the early fifteenth century, see ibid. no. 622; P.R.O. C 1/6, nos. 207–9. This concerned a dispute with Sir Thomas Gresley over tenements in the town of Burton and lands in Derbyshire.

49. For a fuller account of Shropshire politics at this time, see Powell, ‘Shropshire and Staffordshire,’ supra note 30, 300–17.

50. Bruyn was not a native of Bridgnorth. His father, Henry Bruyn, was a burgess of Chester: C.C.R. 1392–96, 274.

51. Rotuli Parliamentorum, iv, 30–31.

52. Cf. P.R.O., C 1/6, no. 189.

53. P.R.O., KB 9/206/1, m.18 no.4; Rotuli Parliamentorum, iv, 31.

54. P.R.O., KB 9/206/1, mm. 18–19 (6 March 1414). Five members of the jury were later party to the arbitration which awarded Bruyn compensation for false indictments laid against him during the dispute.

55. P.R.O., KB 27/613, passim.

56. C.P.R., 1413–16, 164; P.R.O., KB 27/634, Rex, m.6.

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58. What follows is drawn from the arbitrators’ award, Nat. Lib. Wales, Pitchford Hall deeds, no. 2492.

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60. C.C.R., 1413–19, 43; Pollard, ‘Family of Talbot,’ supra note 32, 229–34.

61. Cf. Carpenter, ‘Law, Justice and Landowners,’ supra note 10, 219–25.

62. Ives. Common Lawyers, supra note 11, 126–30.

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64. Rotuli Parliamentorum, iii, 649–50.

65. Davis, ed., Paston Letters, supra note 26, i, no. 5.

66. The arbitration award between Sir John Bagot and Burton abbey (supra note 47) refers to several sessions, at which the parties appeared to submit evidence before the arbitrators and their counsellors.

67. See supra note 17.

68. Cheyette, ‘Suum cuique tribuere,’ supra note 17, 295: ‘In the thirteenth century the ritual of arbitration and compromise was replaced by the new forms of normative justice.’

69. Ibid. 296: ‘Finally, towards mid-century, authoritative courts making normative judgements appeared, and their use expanded rapidly. Arbitration remained, but its meaning changed. More and more the arbiters acted like judges, made inquests, checked charters. Professional lawyers and court officials appeared as arbiters. By the early fourteenth century arbitration had found its place within a hierarchical structure of courts, as decisions from which appeals to higher courts might be made. It was reduced to a technique for avoiding what had become the “ordinary court”.’ Cf. White. ‘Settlement of Disputes,’ supra note 17, 283.

70. Cheyette, ‘Suum cuique tribuere,’ supra note 17, 295; cf. White, ‘Settlement of Disputes,’ supra note 17, 292–93.

71. Cheyette, ‘Suum cuique tribuere,’ supra note 17, 295: White, ‘Settlement of Disputes,’ supra note 17, 300–1.

72. Cheyette, ‘Suum cuique tribuere,’ supra note 17, 293; White, ‘Settlement of Disputes,’ supra note 17, 303–7. Cf. Hicks, ‘Restraint, Mediation and Private Justice,’ supra note 10, 66.

73. White, ‘Settlement of Disputes,’ supra note 17, 296, 301–3.

74. Ibid. 300–1, 308.

75. T. Arnold, ed., Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, Rolls Series (1896) 188 211.

76. Post. ‘Ladbroke Manor Dispute,’ supra note 9, 303.

77. Moore, S.A., ed., Letters and Papers of John Shillingford, Camden Society, new ser., ii (1871)Google Scholar. The dispute between the city and the bishop was eventually settled locally through the mediation of the earl of Devon and lord Bonville. Cf. Ives, Common Lawyers, supra note 11, 309–10.

78. C.C.R., 1409–13, 211, 222. The justices, William Gascoigne and William Thurning, decided in favor of the Clintons, allowing them the full measure of dower assigned to Anne by the escheator.

79. CP 40/615, m.342.

80. Powell, ‘Arbitration and the Law,’ supra note 18, passim.

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