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63-639: The enactments of the code are devoted primarily to the management of disputes and clarifying legal procedure, in particular the regulation of fines relating to the peace . In the case of one provision, the text specifically mentions the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw , and the code is of particular historical significance for the Danelaw and Anglo-Scandinavian Britain. The Wantage Code survives today in Old English within

126-455: A breach of the peace is a criminal offence. The case R v Howell (1981) defined breach of the peace as "harm ... actually done or likely to be done to a person or, in his presence, his property or is put in fear of being harmed through an assault, affray , riot, unlawful assembly or other disturbance." In the 1998 case of Steel v UK , the European Court of Human Rights decided that this

189-552: A burh at nearby Tamworth . In 917 Aethelflaed launched her first offensive foray and selected the fortress at Derby as her target. At that time the local ruler had probably joined with the armies from Northampton and Leicester in a number of raids to attack Mercia. Aethelflaed took advantage of the weakened burh, and successfully assaulted the town in July 917; the whole region subsequently being annexed into English Mercia. The Danes might well have established their military headquarters on

252-419: A killing of a human was a murder only if the victim was "under the king's peace" (i.e., not an outlaw or an enemy soldier in wartime). This was predicated on the notion that, because the outlaw lived outside the king's peace, the king would not punish offenses against the outlaw. Historically, even homicides se defendendo (in self-defence ) were considered offenses against the king, in that they deprived

315-504: A plausible claim to a property), indicating respect for pre-existing legal custom in "Danish" England. Neff noted that "the fines and payments are in all cases stated in Scandinavian terms", including "hundreds (of silver ores), ores and marks". Peace (law) The legal term peace , sometimes king's peace ( Latin : pax regis ) or queen's peace , is the common-law concept of the maintenance of public order. The concept of

378-468: A three-pronged assault, the combined forces of Leicester and Northampton, and possibly Derby, laid siege to the Mercian burh at Towcester . Though isolated by the loss of Derby and Northampton later that year, the Mercian army returned in early 918 to ravage the local countryside, and as a result the fortress surrendered peacefully to Aethelflaed's troops. Relieved of English rule by King Olaf of York in 941,

441-499: A view to limiting violence and the escalation of conflict among the participants. The text itself refers to the promulgations as lagu , "law", one of the earliest authentic Old English borrowings of the Norse word lǫg . It contains a number of other Scandinavian words, such as lahcop ("law purchase"), landcop ("[tax on] land purchase"), and witword ("wise word", possibly meaning "witness" or "agreement", or else denoting

504-508: Is a form of preventive arrest. Under the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 , a magistrate has the power to "bind over" a person to keep the peace (i.e., to forfeit a sum of money upon a subsequent breach of the peace), and "refusal to be bound over to keep the peace is an offence in English law, punishable by up to six months' imprisonment." Moreover, the obstruction of an officer engaged in preventing

567-634: Is indistinguishable from" disturbing the peace. The application of criminal statutes on disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct have been limited by constitutional jurisprudence on the First Amendment , including the U.S. Supreme Court 's rulings in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) and Colten v. Kentucky (1972). As a common-law nation, the notion of "breach of the Queen's peace" endures in Australia. In

630-631: The Capture of the Five Boroughs . For many years afterwards the Five Boroughs were a separate and well defined area of the country where rulers sought support from its leaders, including Swein Forkbeard who gained the submission of the Five Boroughs in 1013, before going on to attack London. In 1015 there is a unique reference to the 'Seven Boroughs', which might have been included Torksey and York. Following Danish conquest in 1016, Earl Sired succeeded to

693-514: The Court of Appeal for England and Wales held that the Home Secretary could exercise prerogative powers to maintain the peace of the realm. The court thus ruled that the Home Secretary had the power to purchase crowd control devices, such as plastic bullets and CS gas , even without statutory authorization or the approval of the local police authority . In modern English law, a breach of

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756-466: The Danelaw , the area where their native law and customs prevailed. Each of the Five Boroughs was ruled as a Danish jarldom , controlling lands around a fortified burh , which served as the centre of political power. The rulers were probably initially subject to their overlords in the Viking Kingdom of Jorvik (or York ) and operated their armies sometimes independently but often in alliance with

819-519: The High Court of Australia decision Lipohar v R (1999), a decision dealing with jurisdiction to try a case for the common-law crime of conspiracy to defraud , Justices Gaudron , Gummow , and Hayne quoted a 1973 decision by the English judge Lord Wilberforce that "the common law treats certain actions as crimes" on the ground that the "actions in question are a threat to the Queen's peace, or, as we would now perhaps say, to society." The concept of

882-572: The King of the English , Edmund I besieged the Viking army at Leicester the same year. Olaf and his advisor Wulfstan I, Archbishop of York , both escaped and the siege was lifted after a peace negotiation ceded the Five Boroughs to the Kingdom of York. Jarl Orm, the likely ruler of Leicester at the time (and who attested charters between 930 and 958 ) married his daughter Aldgyth to King Olaf later that year to cement

945-506: The police services are responsible for keeping the peace, a duty distinct from their duty of law enforcement . The concept has remained relevant in English law ; in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Northumbria Police Authority (1989), the Court of Appeal for England and Wales held that the government could exercise prerogative powers to maintain the peace of

1008-412: The 14th century had been brought under the king's peace. A breach of the king's peace could be either a crime or a tort ; one who breached the king's peace could be pursued by an appeal of felony or writ of trespass (brought by the victim of the breach) or by an indictment of felony or indictment of trespass (brought on behalf of the king, frequently at the request of the victim). One who breached

1071-676: The Danelaw The Five Boroughs or The Five Boroughs of the Danelaw were the five main towns of Danish Mercia (what is now the East Midlands ) under the Danelaw . These were Derby , Leicester , Lincoln , Nottingham and Stamford . The first four later became county towns . Viking raids on England began in the late 8th century, and were largely of the "hit and run" variety. However, in 865 various Viking armies combined and landed in East Anglia , not to raid but to conquer

1134-615: The East Anglian Danes when they advanced to Tempsford and built a new fortress in July 917. From here, the joint army attempted to recover the recently fallen burh at Bedford, but were severely defeated and put to flight by the English garrison. The burh was occupied by the Edward's West Saxon army shortly afterwards. Cambridge was first occupied by the Danes under kings Guthrum , Osketel and Anwend in 875, whose armies took up quarters there over

1197-751: The Edwardian burh of around 2700 ft ( c. 650 hides). The following burhs were not part of the Five Boroughs, but were Danish settled towns with large armies and ruled in a similar manner. These Danes often acted in alliance with those of the Five Boroughs and the Danish King of East Anglia. First recorded invading newly ceded Mercian territories with their allies in 913, the Northampton Danes were initially very successful. However, on their return they were defeated by local Mercian forces near Luton , losing many horses and weapons. In December 914, their strength

1260-513: The Elder of Wessex during 916 and 917. The area was subsequently ruled by the Earls of Mercia until King Olaf of York reoccupied the five former Danish burhs following a major offensive in 941, perhaps assisted by local Danish leaders. Danish rule was not restored for long before King Edmund recovered the Five Boroughs in 942. It is at this time the Five Boroughs are first recorded in an English poem known as

1323-511: The Five Boroughs". It is generally agreed that the five in question were Lincoln , Stamford , Leicester , Nottingham and Derby , and the code appears to be the earliest reference to the 'Five Boroughs' as an institution. Within the Wantage Code there are provisions concerning the jurisdiction of the wapentake (Old English: wǣpen(ge)tæc ; Old Norse: vápnatak ), an area of local administration unique to Anglo-Scandinavian Britain that by

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1386-614: The River Ouse . Thurketel then became Edward's client, until he permitted the Danish ruler to leave with his followers for France in the summer of 916. In July 917 the Danish East Anglian army advanced to Tempsford and launched an attack to recover Bedford. The Danish army was defeated and put to flight. It was later incorporated into the enlarged Earldom of East Anglia in the early 10th century. The Danes of Huntingdon were allies with

1449-727: The Vikings had previously overwintered in the nearby fortress of Torksey in Lindsey from 873 to 874. Lincoln probably surrendered in 918 following the capitulation of all the Danish territories on the border of Mercia and Wessex. As a former Roman legionary town, the burh probably based its walls on the old fortress of 41 acres ( c. 1300 hides). The Viking army under Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson first occupied Nottingham in 868 and subsequently set up winter quarters there. Burgred and his West Saxon allies laid siege, but made peace and allowed

1512-515: The Vikings to retreat after little serious fighting in 869. Danish reoccupation and settlement began in 877, and lasted until the assault by King Edward of Wessex in the summer of 918. Edward constructed a second burh on the opposite side of the Trent in 920 to further fortify the area from Danish attack. Saxon Nottingham was known to have covered about 39 acres, which may have put the burh at c. 1300 hides. The West Saxon Ealdorman Aethelnoth invaded

1575-593: The alliance. The burh might have made use of the walls of the Roman Leicester ( Ratae Corieltauvorum ), of approx 7,800 ft (2,400 m) ( c. 1900 hides). The burh at Lincoln guarded the route between Wessex and York , and was protected from much of the Anglo-Danish fighting due to its isolated location. The Lincoln Danes settled the area formerly occupied by the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey , where

1638-473: The area around Stamford in the summer of 894, but the town was not besieged and Danish rule remained unaffected. The end came when King Edward assaulted Stamford in late May 918 and the burh soon fell to the army of Wessex. Later that year Edward built a second burh on the south side of the River Welland . From Roffe, the ramparts of the northern burh might have been of approx 3100 ft ( c. 750 hides), and

1701-544: The assembly at Wantage "witnessed one of the king's more prominent acts of repentance", a grant of 100 hides to Old Minster, Winchester . The act of promulgation of the code may have been part of a broader attempt by Æthelred to restore the standing of his kingship in light of his "sins" back in the 980s. Although mirroring elements of I Æthelred , the Wantage Code seems to be designed to be more 'aggressive', with provisions accompanied by heavier fines and stronger punishments. Historian Jake Stattel has argued that incentives of

1764-562: The code were designed to encourage private settlements . Some historians have conceived of the code as part of an effort to integrate formerly independent "Danish" areas into the emerging kingdom of England . The scholars of the 21st-century Early English Laws AHRC -funded research project in the United Kingdom noted that the code contains what is "perhaps the earliest description of a jury of presentment " A provision (3 §1) declared that "[A] court shall be held in every wapentake , and

1827-408: The common law, is arguably the most cherished of all the ideas from our medieval past, still resonating in the modern world." He noted that the police officers take an oath to "cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against people and property." In the controversial decision in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Northumbria Police Authority (1989),

1890-516: The enlarged Earldom of East Anglia under Æthelstan Half-King in the 930s. In 941, then in the hands of the Mercians, Northampton faced an unsuccessful siege by King Olaf of York. The 'army' of Northampton was still in existence in 984 when they were recorded witnessing the sale of land. The size of the Anglo-Danish burh at Northampton has been estimated to have ramparts 3,000 ft (910 m) in length (equivalent to c. 700 hides), making it one of

1953-469: The exiled Mercian king with King Ceolwulf II of Mercia . According to Alfred the Great 's biographer, Asser , the Vikings then split into two bands. Halfdan led one band north to Northumbria. The Vikings returned in 877 to partition Mercia: the west of the kingdom went to Ceolwulf II, whilst in the east the Five Boroughs began as the fortified burhs of five Danish armies who settled the area and established

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2016-415: The former Roman fort of Derventio . This 6-acre (24,000 m ) rectangular fort would have given the burh the equivalent of c. 500 hides. The Vikings had camped at nearby Repton in 874, and had abandoned it a year later after suffering significantly from disease during their stay (leading to the discovery of a grave containing 245 bodies). Leicester became one of the more formidable Danish burhs;

2079-572: The four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. The annals described the combined force as the " Great Heathen Army ". In 871, the Vikings' campaign was reinforced when the Great Summer Army arrived from Scandinavia . In 874, following their winter stay in Repton (in present-day Derbyshire), the Great Heathen Army drove King Burgred of Mercia into exile and conquered Mercia; the Vikings replaced

2142-431: The homestead of a free man"; and (2) "the special protection of the king's attendants and servants, and other persons who he thought fit to place on the same footing." Thus, Maitland and Pollock noted that "breach of the king's peace was an act of personal disobedience, and a much graver matter than an ordinary breach of the public order; it made the wrongdoer the king's enemy" who could be declared an outlaw . Over time,

2205-415: The institutions of keeper of the peace and then justice of the peace were established. The 19th-century legal commentator James Fitzjames Stephen wrote that the conservators of the king's peace were the king, the great officers of state , and the King's Bench on the national level, and the sheriffs , coroners , justices of the peace , and constables on the local level. In traditional common law,

2268-448: The king of the use of his subjects. As a result, killings in self-defense were treated as an excuse that required a royal pardon, rather than a justified act. Similarly, the maiming of a person was an offense against the king because it reduced "the value of a human resource , in this case, by rendering him incapable of military service." Today, the preservation of the King's Peace is

2331-755: The king's peace included legates , churches, and assemblies. Following the Norman Conquest , the "king's peace" had extended to refer to "the normal and general safeguard of public order" in the realm, although specially granted peaces continued to be given after this period. Under the Leges Edwardi Confessoris (Laws of Edward the Confessor), the four great highways of the realm (the Roman roads of Watling Street , Icknield Street , Ermine Street , and Fosse Way ) as well as navigable rivers were also under

2394-432: The king's peace is significant in the historiography of medieval England, particularly regarding the study of the origin of the idea of crime . Black's Law Dictionary defines the term as "the king's guarantee of peace and security of life and property to all within his protection." The notion of the king's peace is linked to the idea of police power and, more generally, sovereign power . Five Boroughs of

2457-543: The king's peace originated in Anglo-Saxon law , where it initially applied the special protections accorded to the households of the English kings and their retainers. A breach of the king's peace, which could be either a crime or a tort , was a serious matter. The concept of the king's peace expanded in the 10th and 11th centuries to accord the king's protection to particular times (such as holidays), places (such as highways and churches), and individuals (such as legates). By

2520-485: The king's peace was subject to punishment for both the breach and for the underlying conduct, which could be in the form of a fine, forfeiture , imprisonment, corporal punishment , or capital punishment . The Charter of Henry I , issued upon Henry's coronation in 1100, stated: "I establish a lasting peace throughout the whole of my kingdom and command that it henceforth be maintained." Historian John Hudson had commented that Henry I's cornational declaration of peace

2583-405: The king's peace. The Leges Edwardi Confessoris provided that the weeks for Christmas , Easter , and Pentecost were under the king's peace as well. Maitland commented that the king's peace had begun to "swallow up lesser peaces" such as the peaces of local lords of the manor . For example, roads other than the four great Roman roads were formerly under the sheriffs' peace, but by the end of

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2646-536: The latter for use in the Danelaw , the region of eastern England heavily settled by migrant Scandinavians in the later ninth and early tenth centuries. Both texts make reference to an earlier, but otherwise undocumented, assembly at Bromdune . In the Quadripartitus tradition the text is extended with the incorporation of the " Laws of London " ( IV Æthelred ) along with tracts on Pax ("peace") and Walreaf ("corpse robbery"). Historian Levi Roach pointed out that

2709-504: The local ruler combined his army with that of Northampton and raided the West Saxon territories of Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire in 913, and defied King Edward the Elder to besiege the West Saxon burh of Hertford . This provoked Aethelflaed to move her armies up to the fringes of Danish-occupied territory around Leicester in 914 and to construct a burh at Warwick . In July 917, as part of

2772-466: The location named in the opening line of the text, "these are the constitutions which King Æthelred and his councillors have enacted at Wantage for the promotion of public security ( to friðes bóte )". The enactment may have occurred in 997, the year that a royal assembly in Wantage is otherwise documented, though as historian Ann Williams has pointed out "there could have been other unrecorded meetings at

2835-487: The maintenance of public order, and the concept of "an offense against the king's peace" to refer to an offense against the new sovereign—the people or the state. In the United States, the common law offense of breach of the peace was supplanted by the statutory offense of disturbing the peace . The separate offense of disorderly conduct has no common-law roots, but in most U.S. jurisdictions this offense "often

2898-628: The major responsibility of police services . Lord Scarman , in his report on the 1981 Brixton riot , defined the "Queen's Peace" as the maintenance of "the normal state of society" (i.e., a "state of public tranquility") and defined it as the first duty of a police officer, ahead of the second duty of enforcing the law . In a 2011 speech to the Police Foundation, Lord Judge (the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales ) said, "The concept Queen's Peace as it now is, unbreakably linked with

2961-557: The manuscript known as Textus Roffensis , originating in the early twelfth century and preserved by the medieval bishops of Rochester ; and in a Latin translation within Quadripartitus , another compilation work of similar date. It has been edited by Benjamin Thorpe (d. 1870), Felix Liebermann (d. 1925) and Agnes Jane Robertson (d. 1959), the last of whom also provided a translation. The text takes its name from Wantage , Berkshire,

3024-469: The notion of king's peace expanded, particularly in the 10th and 11th centuries. The expansion of the concept coincided with the expansion of the king's household to encompass governmental institutions, including the chancery , exchequer , chamber, and royal courts of law. Under the reigns of Æthelred and Cnut , the concept of king's peace had already extended to designated times, places, individuals, and institutions. Individuals and institutions under

3087-451: The peace is not itself a crime. However, "where a breach of the peace has been committed or, alternatively, where such a breach is reasonably believed to be imminent, a police officer, or for that matter a member of the public, has the power at common law to arrest without warrant the individual or individuals who have either committed or are about to commit that breach of the peace even though no offence has actually been committed." This

3150-518: The realm. The notion of "king's peace" originates in Anglo-Saxon law . Historian Bruce R. O'Brien notes that the concept was "a vague statement of the inviolability of the king or his palace" under the early English kings . Maitland and Pollock describe the origins of the concept of the king's peace as arising from (1) "the special sanctity of the king's house" (the royal household or mund ), "which may be regarded as differing only in degree from that which Germanic usage attached everywhere to

3213-415: The rulers of their neighbours. In addition to the Five Boroughs there were also a number of very large Danish settlements to the south, including Northampton and Bedford , which existed in a similar fashion. Old Norse: Djúra-bý . Although the area was settled by Danes from 877, it was not under English threat until 913 when Lady Aethelflaed of Mercia campaigned deep into Danish territory and established

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3276-462: The same concept. Historian Patrick Wormald suggests that Anglo-Saxon law and Scots law developed in parallel, and that the "seminal notion of vesting social security in the protection afforded by the king's peace" applied in both Scotland and England, with very early origins. After the American Revolution , American law merely adapted the common-law concept of the king's peace to refer to

3339-418: The same place". Theoretically it could date any time in the king's reign, but since it lacks any trace of the influence of Wulfstan II , archbishop of York , it is likely to date before 1008 when the latter began drafting legal codes. There are close similarities between the Wantage Code and the so-called "Woodstock Code", I Æthelred , and some historians have suggested that the former was an adaptation of

3402-510: The smaller Danish burhs. The Danish burh was first under threat from the advance of the West Saxon army in 914. In November that year Bedford was surrounded in a pincer movement by Edward, and the ruling Jarl Thurketel submitted with all of his followers. Edward returned in November 915 to the Danish-held fortress, this time taking direct control of it and building a second burh on the south bank of

3465-504: The time of Domesday Book was seen as analogous to the West Saxon hundred . These units are found in the area covered by the rural hinterland of the Five Boroughs, what would become Lincolnshire , Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire , but also in Yorkshire , County Durham, Northamptonshire , Cheshire and Cumberland . The name is thought to derive from the practice of "taking weapons" from those gathered at local assemblies, with

3528-402: The time of the Norman Conquest , the notion of the king's peace became more general, referring to the safeguarding of public order more broadly. In subsequent centuries, those responsible for enforcing the king's peace (besides the king himself) included the King's Bench and various local officials, including the sheriff , coroner , justice of the peace , and constable . In modern Britain,

3591-466: The twelve leading thegns along with the reeve shall go out and swear on the relics which are given into their hands, that they will not accuse any innocent man or shield any guilty one". Historian Charlotte Neff pointed out that the same group of thegns appear to function like a modern judge or jury elsewhere, with another provision (13 §2) stating that "a verdict in which the thegns are unanimous shall be held valid" and adding that "if they disagree,

3654-408: The verdict of eight of them shall be valid, and those who are outvoted in such a case shall each pay 6 half-marks". As a historical source, the code is particularly important for the Danelaw. Within that area itself, the text specifically refers to the Five Boroughs , with clause 1 §1 naming specific fines for "breach of the peace which the ealdorman or the king's reeve establishes in the court of

3717-412: The winter. In 911 it was first threatened by Edward, who built an opposing burh at Hertford . With the fall of Huntingdon, it left Cambridge the last independent host on which Danish East Anglia could rely, however the tide had turned and the Danes of Cambridge submitted to Edward in late 917. Danish rule of the Five Boroughs was lost following the English reconquests under Æthelflæd of Mercia and Edward

3780-467: Was a lawful restriction of the freedom of assembly under Article 5 and Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights . Unlike medieval England, there is no strong evidence "for a strong conceptual and ideological royal peace" concept in medieval Scotland ; however, historian Alan Harding argues that 12th-century royal brieves of protection issued by Scottish kings implicitly reflect

3843-530: Was first codified in the Justices of the Peace Act 1361 , has partial roots in the early use of sureties of the peace, which "emerged from the peace-keeping arrangements of Anglo-Saxon law, extended by the use of the royal prerogative and royal writs to bestow the king's peace where the king wished until the peace became a nationwide legal reality." Sureties of the peace were replaced in the 13th and 14th centuries, as

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3906-471: Was further depleted when a number of Northampton Danes submitted to Edward at Bedford. With the loss of Derby and East Anglia and the advance of King Edward, their ruler, Jarl Thurferth, and the men of Northampton and Cambridge submitted to the West Saxons in 917. Thurferth remained the client ruler, and attested four charters of King Æthelstan dated between 930 and 934. Northampton was later incorporated in

3969-526: Was non-specific, but did emphasize "the association of both the ideals and the practical enforcement of good order with firm kingship" as characterized by, among other things, an expansion of royal judicial activity. Hudson writes: "Thus the later precise legal notion of the king's peace may have developed more from ideas of the general king's peace, as manifest perhaps in shrieval grants and Henry's coronation decree, than from specific grants of royal protection." The binding over power of magistrates , which

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