The Rhetoric and Reality of Access to Justice in Sixteenth Century England

Abstract

The ideal of justice played an important role in sixteenth century England, but the legal system could be difficult to navigate even for the most adept, let alone for those without the advantages of wealth, education or political connections. Most people were not legal experts, but a striking feature of life in early modern England was that a very wide section of society was able to gain access to legal advice from a variety of sources, whether professional or otherwise. With the help of such advice, a larger number of people than one might expect were able to make use of the legal system and gain redress for their grievances. Focussing on the Thames Valley in the mid sixteenth century, this article explores the rhetoric and reality of access to justice. As in all societies, ignorance, poverty, inertia and corruption impeded the realisation of any ideal form of justice, but for many people in sixteenth century England the reality was at least close enough to the ideal to be recognisable as such. In 1553, Sir Francis Stonor was much in need of consolation. His father had been dead for three years, but the 33-year-old Sir Francis proved to be a poor steward of his inheritance. In fact, he was so poor a steward that he had landed himself in the Fleet, imprisoned for bad debts of several hundred pounds. At least he had with him his servant John Passy, who tells us that he attended upon his master “and read unto him [from Livy] and other writers in the Latin tongue”.1 Passy’s attempts at a more practical resolution of his master’s problems ended disastrously. Through various intermediaries, he introduced him to Walter Loveden, a substantial Berkshire landowner, who offered to lend Sir Francis enough to pay his debts, secured – as one would expect – by substantial mortgages. Sadly, Sir Francis’ knowledge of the classics was apparently better than his knowledge of the law, and Walter Loveden succeeded in relieving him