If so, such juror bribed and the
defendant who bribed him shall each pay ten times the amount of
the bribe to the plaintiff and be imprisoned not more than six
months without release on bail or surety.
Other changes in the judicial process were made by court decision.
For instance, the royal justices decided that only the king could
grant sanctuary for treason and not the church. After this, the
church withdrew the right of sanctuary from second time offenders.
The King's council has practically limited itself to cases in
which the state has an interest, especially the maintenance of
public order. Chancery became an independent court rather than the
arm of the king and his council. In Chancery and the King's Bench,
the intellectual revival brought by humanism inspires novel
procedures to be devised to meet current problems in disputed
titles to land, inheritance, debt, breach of contract, promises to
perform acts or services, deceit, nuisance, defamation, and the
sale of goods.
A new remedy is specific performance, that is, performance of an
act rather than money damages.
Evidence is now taken from witnesses.
Various courts had overlapping jurisdiction. For instance,
trespass could be brought in the Court of Common Pleas because it
was a civil action between two private persons. It could also be
brought in the Court of the King's Bench because it broke the
King's peace.
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