Our Legal Heritage Part 100

Parliament was no longer a court.

Use of the torture was proscribed in 1649.

In 1652, the justices were given a salary of 1,000 pounds and forbidden to take fees or rewards. They also got tenure, thus freeing them from government pressure. Now civil justice was honestly dispensed and justices were learned and honest.

The jurisdiction of Admiralty court was defined to include: s.h.i.+ps and vessels with tackle, apparel and furniture thereof; repairing, victualing, and furnis.h.i.+ng provisions of s.h.i.+ps and vessels for sea; all cases of bottomry [s.h.i.+p-owner indemnified if the vessel were lost, but paid over a substantial share of the profits if it reached its destination safely], contracts beyond the seas concerning s.h.i.+pping or navigation; charter, parties, contracts for freight; bills of lading; mariners wages; damage of goods on board s.h.i.+ps; and damage by one s.h.i.+p to another including by anchors or want of laying buoys. It did not include contracts between merchants.

- - - Chapter 17 - - -

- Times: 1660-1702 -

The monarchy was restored and Charles II came to the throne. The episcopacy of the bishops and the Book of Common Prayer were restored.

This book retained all its ceremonies, despite opposition by the Presbyterians. The confiscated Royalist, church, and Crown lands were ordered to be restored, and most were. Charles II was presented with the traditional rights of choosing his own Privy Council, ministers of state, and justices; making foreign policy; controlling the armed forces; and approving statutes. He was also presented with the power to call and dismiss Parliament, but later, in 1694, a statute required that Parliament be held at least once every three years, to avoid royal schemes of non-parliamentary government. The House of Lords was reestablished and there were again bishops in it, though fewer than before - about 1/8 instead of about 1/3. There were 160 peers for the next century. The House of Commons was elected in the usual way, but without a king's writ. The Commons was composed mostly of royalist established church members. Its leaders were important members of the King's Privy Council.

The feudal tenures of the crown, such as knights' service, were converted into free socage. They were discharged of homage, reliefs, escuage, and aids. Charles relinquished purveyance, wards.h.i.+ps, and forfeitures of marriage. In return, Parliament granted him a fixed yearly income of 100,000 pounds from excise tax on beer, cider, and tea.

Several hundreds of dissenter ministers and school teachers were ejected from their positions, but later those who were not Baptists were returned by statute of Parliament because Baptists did not believe in an established church.

Charles II was an easygoing and kindly man and hard to ruffle. He had a weariness in the folly of men and a cynical disbelief in human virtue.

His wit and great sense of humor softened many a potentially tense situation. His restoration to the throne brought in a time of enjoyment of life in reaction to the Puritanism of before. At his succession, the elected Parliament was oriented toward royalty and the established church. He was voted an income of 1,200,000 pounds a year. He also sold many of the last crown lands. But he always had great debts, which he described as a "desperate but not serious" situation. This was in part due to his generous maintenance of several successive mistresses and more than about a dozen illegitimate children. His entourage also included physicians, surgeons, a librarian, a poet laureate, chaplains, painters, an historiographer, musicians, a royal composer, and an astronomer. Charles even joked on his deathbed that "I am sorry gentlemen, for being such an unconscionable time a-dying."

The day of Charles II's restoration and birthday was designated as a day of thanksgiving when all were to partic.i.p.ate in prayers and the singing of psalms at some church or other suitable public place.

Charles initiated the return of Sunday afternoon wrestling, archery, music, and dancing. Theaters reopened with actresses playing women's parts, an audience only in front of the stage instead of around it, a drop curtain, and painted two-dimensional scenery. Actresses were allowed pursuant to royal proclamation so that plays should become "useful and instructive representations of human life" rather than "harmless delights". Charles went to plays regularly. Actresses were a.s.sumed to be mistresses of patrons in return for their jobs, but one fourth were actually chaste women married to actors. Comedies were the preferred plays. Courtesans were sympathetically and even admirably treated in plays, which mocked all restraints and glorified immorality with the exception of p.o.r.nography, which was banned. Bad actors were hissed off the stage. Henry Purcell wrote religious music for churches, ceremonial music for the English court, and theater music for English opera. Opera made music a vehicle for human emotions. The gentry sang to the lute and danced to string instruments. Many owned and played musical instruments. Humble people had folksongs and instruments like the pipe and tabor for dancing. Singing in parts was popular in town and country.

In 1672 John Banister started the first regular series of public concerts in his house. There were lovely formal gardens in which to walk, to see fireworks, and to buy the new ice cream. Charles did much garden and park planning and let the public enjoy the royal St. James Park. He loved hunting too and had the royal forests replenished with deer after poaching during the Cromwell era had greatly reduced their numbers.

Charles II introduced sailing and yacht racing for pleasure. He also partic.i.p.ated in and promoted horse racing. The breeding of thoroughbred horses began with breeding to Arab mares. Gelding horses were now preferred over stallions. There were trotters, cart horses, and some "fast" race horses. Boxing (with no gloves nor ring) was a national sport. Ice skating with iron blades was popular. Valentine's day was celebrated. Italian puppet shows played in London.

Dress returned to elaborateness. Gentlemen wore Cavalier-style long wigs with curls, despite the church's dislike of wigs. This could hide the short hair of a former Puritan Roundhead. In 1666, Charles introduced a new mode of inexpensive court dress which was made entirely from English textiles. This gave rise to gentlemen's weskits to below the knee with a coat of the same length and full sleeves. Stockings and shoes replaced the long fitted boots. Charles set a court tradition of men wearing a scarf tied around the neck. Ladies often wore their hair in ma.s.ses of ringlets with little corkscrew curls on each side of their heads, and later piled their hair up elaborately on their heads. They wore satin or silk dresses fitted at the waist with a pointed bodice, and full skirt. The shoulder line was low and the sleeves full and open at the front with fastenings of jeweled clasps. The only fast colors were reds, blues, purple, and yellow, but not green. They kept their hands warm in m.u.f.fs. Women wore perfume, rouge, and face patches. Some women put on a lot of make-up. Many men dressed effeminately with rouge, face patches, heavily scented clothing, m.u.f.fs, and many ribbons of many colors. The facial beauty patches were in shapes such as stars, crescent moons, and hearts; they diverted attention from the common smallpox scars. There were Oxford shoes, which laced up the front through eyelets. The members of the House of Commons dressed like the gentry and a.s.sumed their manners. There was exaggeration in all complimentary and ceremonial language.

The gentry were beginning to be thought of as a "squirearchy". They owned about half the land of the country.

The population according to cla.s.s was as follows:

Number of Social Ranks, Household Household

Households Degrees, t.i.tles size yearly

income

in pounds

160 Temporal lords 40 3,200

26 Spiritual lords 20 1,300

800 Baronets 16 880

600 Knights 13 650

3,000 Esquires 10 450

12,000 Gentlemen 8 280

5,000 Persons in greater offices and places 8 240

5,000 Persons in lesser offices and places 6 120