Frankpledge system hue and cry6/12/2023 ![]() ![]() The Norman King, William the Conqueror, quickly modified the mutual pledge system to aid in the consolidation of his power. In 1066, the Normans invaded England and seized the throne. This power was known by the Latin phrase posse comitatus. The sheriff has the power to raise all able-bodied men in the county to pursue a criminal. The shire-reeve, whose job it was to maintain the King’s peace in the Shire, was later shortened to the modern term sheriff. Hundreds were combined into administrative units known as Shires (or Counties), under the jurisdiction of the shire-reeve. In other words, every man was responsible for the conduct of every other man. If a criminal could not be produced in court, then the Crown could fine the entire hundred. A group of ten tithings was called the hundred, and the office of constable developed out of this organizational unit. All men over the age of twelve were required to raise the hue and cry when a crime was detected, and pursue the criminal with all of the men of the tithing. Each tithing was governed by a tithingman. These groups of ten families were known as tithings. The mutual pledge system consisted of groups of ten families bound to uphold the law, bring violators to court, and keep the peace. ![]() The codes of ancient Greece and Rome have had an influence on Western law, as has the Mosaic Code.Īmong the earliest documented Western systems of law and law enforcement was the mutual pledge system. The Code of Hammurabi was carved in large stones in the tenth century B.C. King Hammurabi of Babylon is credited with the first written criminal code. When formal, written laws emerged, the need to enforce those laws emerged concurrently. Behavioral expectations were derived from group norms and customs. Note that this method was extremely informal: there were no courts or written system of laws. The essence of kin policing was the idea that an attack on one member of the group was tantamount to an attack on the entire group. In this primitive system, members of a clan or tribe banded together to enforce the rules of the group on rogue members. Historians and anthropologists regard the earliest system of law enforcement as kin policing. ![]()
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