The supreme court was the king and his council in Parliament. It
heard the most important causes, important because they concern
the king, or because they concern very great men (e.g.treason), or
because they involve grave questions of public law, or because
they are unprecedented. It has large, indefinite powers and
provides new remedies for new wrongs. The office of great
justiciar disappears and the chancellor becomes the head of the
council. After the council were the royal courts of the King's
Bench, Common Pleas, and the Exchequer, which had become separate,
each with its own justices and records. The Court of Common Pleas
had its own Chief Justice and usually met at Westminster. This
disadvantaged the small farmer, who would have to travel to
Westminster to present a case. The King's Council maintained a
close connection with the Court of the King's Bench, which heard
criminal cases and appeals from the Court of Common Pleas. It
traveled with the King. There were many trespass cases so heard by
it in the reign of Edward I. The King's Council did a great deal
of justice, for the more part criminal justice. It was supported
by the populace because it dealt promptly and summarily with
rebellion or some scandalous acquittal of a notorious criminal by
bribed or partial jurors, and thereby prevented anarchy. Its
procedure was to send for the accused and compel him to answer
upon oath written interrogatories.
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