The Statute of Westminster 1275, enacted in the reign of King Edward I of England, is one of the earliest English statutes to survive as originally enacted. It restated and clarified existing common law across a wide range of subjects, including free elections, the rights of the church, limits on excessive fines, and criminal procedure, and portions of it remained on the statute book for centuries. Historians regard it as an early landmark in England's development of statute law as distinct from custom.
Facts
Document Type Creation Year Origin Place Original Language Document Type
Document Type (category) FAQs
What did the First Statute of Westminster actually cover?
A fifty-one chapter code of Edward I that backed parts of Magna Carta and protected free local elections.
It was passed by a parliament meeting at Westminster during the reign of King Edward I, partly to enforce some provisions of Magna Carta and to liberalize the law of England. It read more like a code than a single act, with fifty-one chapters dealing with many parts of English civil and criminal law. It extended protection to church property against violence and seizure by the king and nobility, and it provided for freedom of popular elections to the offices of sheriff, coroner and conservator of the peace. It was Edward I's first effort to consolidate and reform English law and procedure.
Connections
In Era
Source Statute of Westminster 1275 (Wikipedia)
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Sources
1. Statute of Westminster 1275 (Wikipedia)
Infobox, Type
Act of Parliament
Infobox, Date
His first Parliament was summoned for the quinzaine of the Purification on 16 February 1275 but was prorogued until the day after Easter on 22 April 1275, but did not meet until the week commencing 29 April or, according to Chronicle records, until the beginning of May, for unknown reasons.
Infobox, Location
Westminster
Language section
This was drawn up, not in Latin, but in Norman French
Opening paragraph, alternative names
also known as the Statute of Westminster I
In Era: The Post-Classical and Medieval Period, lead paragraph and infobox, date
Infobox date: 1275
In Group: Constitutions, Charters and Statutes of the Medieval and Early Modern World, 1000 to 1699, Lead
The Statute of Westminster of 1275 (3 Edw.
View the SourceWikidata: Statute of Westminster 1275
Wikidata Q15206109, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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