Assize of Clarendon

The Assize of Clarendon was an act of <a href="/facts/Henry_II_of_England/ryWkqNRB">Henry II of England</a> in 1166 that began a transformation of <a href="/facts/English_law/FqYSDmGK">English law</a> and led to <a href="/facts/Jury_trial/XEsU5Emr">trial by jury</a> in <a href="/facts/Common_law/vGVcW4Kf">common law</a> countries worldwide, and that established <a href="/facts/Assize_court/6kGwsztJ">assize courts</a>. 
Prior systems for deciding the winning party in a case, especially <a href="/facts/Felony/9oh7MoaI">felonies</a>, included <a href="/facts/Trial_by_ordeal/frVhJFwp">trial by ordeal</a>, <a href="/facts/Trial_by_battle/hFNy6LpW">trial by battle</a>, or <a href="/facts/Compurgation/3oGcL6og">trial by compurgation</a> (trial by oath), in which evidence, inspection, and inquiry was made under oath by <a href="/facts/Laymen/e14DRlog">laymen</a>, <a href="/facts/Knight/q6oIppem">knights</a> or ordinary <a href="/facts/Franklin_(class)/01rDcRdF">freemen</a>. After the Assize of Clarendon <a href="/facts/Jury_trial/XEsU5Emr">trial by jury</a> developed, though some historians say beginnings of the jury system predate this act. The Assize of Clarendon did not lead to this change immediately; recourse to trial by combat was not officially rescinded until 1819, though by then it had fallen out of use. 
The assize takes its name from <a href="/facts/Clarendon_Palace/CP5jrwSN">Clarendon Palace</a>, Wiltshire, the royal hunting lodge at which it was promulgated.

Assize of Clarendon open-in-new

Assize of Clarendon