The English Justinian

In the 17th century Sir Edward Coke, an English barrister, judge and politician, dubbed Edward I the ‘English Justinian’. Coke drew a comparison between Edward and the 6th century Roman Emperor, Justinian I, who codified the system of Roman law.

Justinian I

This is one of Edward’s nicknames, such as Longshanks or the Hammer of the Scots, that have dogged his posthumous reputation ever since. His reign witnessed enormous legal reforms, and several of his statutes are still in force in England and Wales. How much Edward was responsible for it, or even whether he had any personal interest in the law at all, is up for debate. 

Other than surface details - his speech impediment, his fondness for hunting, his love for his wives etc - it isn’t easy to gauge the king’s personality. Edward was almost as inscrutable as his cousin, Philip le Bel, the Iron King (le Roi de Fer) whose personality was kept in a locked cage somewhere in the depths of his massive brain.

All we can do is rely on bits and pieces of documentary evidence. In a writ to the justiciar of his lordship of Chester in 1259, Edward expressed the following sentiment:

‘If common justice is denied to any one of our subjects by us or our bailiffs, we lose the favour of God and man, and our lordship is belittled’.

If Edward is to be taken at his word, he seems to have meant that common justice to all was necessary, otherwise his lordship over men had no value. This was a private writ, so there is no reason to accuse him of playing to the gallery.

A few years later, in 1269, Edward gave more solid proof of his interest in common justice. While travelling on the road between Canterbury to Dover, he discovered some corpses lying in the woods. Edward suspected foul play and immediately set up a jury, where he accused several local men, ‘wilful and quarrelsome youths’, of doing the deed. Eventually two other men, not members of the gang, were convicted and hanged after trying to pin the guilt on each other. In this instance Edward’s judgement was at fault, but he was certainly taking an interest.