The Lawless Court, formally the King's Court of the Manor of King's Hill, was an English court that began meeting in Kings Hill, Rochford, so called because of the "lawless" time at which it met (midnight).[1] According to tradition, the court was first created some time before 1661, after the Lord of the Manor of King's Hill was woken by a cock crowing, to discover a group of his vassals planning to murder him. Interrupting them, he convicted them of treason, for which their lands would be forfeit. As an act of clemency, he declared that they would be allowed to keep their lands in a state of "shameful service". Each year, the day the plot was discovered (the Wednesday after Old Michaelmas Day), the tenants were to assemble at midnight where the plot was discovered, where the Lord's Steward would whisper out their names as quietly as possible. Those tenants who did not answer to their name would be fined double rent for every hour they failed to do so. The tenants were then obliged to wait there until a cock crowed three times, at which point they were dismissed.[2]
The names of those tenants who answered were entered by the Steward with a piece of charcoal, ink being forbidden; in addition, no candles were allowed, with only natural light being permitted.[3] For its strange procedure, the Court gained a variety of names; most commonly the "Lawless Court", but also "The Whispering Court" and "The Court of Cockcrowing". The Court continued without fail until the 19th century, although it became a tradition only; no prosecutions or litigation ever took place in it, and it is sometimes formally known as the "Curia Sine Lege", or "court without a leet-day".[4] In later years there were many shortcuts in the court's procedure; most tenants simply paid their double rent at the Steward's office in the morning, preferring this to standing around in the damp, and a local man was employed to make the noise of a cock crowing after the court's business had been concluded.[5]
The LawlessCourt, formally the King's Court of the Manor of King's Hill, was an English court that began meeting in Kings Hill, Rochford, so called because...
Lucille Frances Lawless MNZM (née Ryan; born 29 March 1968) is a New Zealand actress. She is best known for her roles as Xena in the television series...
"Imminent lawless action" is one of several legal standards American courts use to determine whether certain speech is protected under the First Amendment...
Colleen Rae Lawless, née Schuster, (born 1983) is an American lawyer serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the...
and Hawkwell. Kings Hill, in Rochford, was notable for containing the LawlessCourt up until the 19th century. In 1837 James Banyard (14 November 1800 –...
Lawless Lawyer (Korean: 무법 변호사; RR: Mubeop Byeonhosa) is a 2018 South Korean television series ran starring Lee Joon-gi, Seo Yea-ji, Lee Hye-young, and...
is a party. The court is based in Strasbourg, France. The court was established in 1959 and decided its first case in 1960 in Lawless v. Ireland. An application...
Stannaries Court was abolished by the Stannaries Court (Abolition) Act 1896. LawlessCourtCourt of Arraye Board of Green Cloth Marshalsea Court Restrictive...
The Hon. Emily Lawless (17 June 1845 – 19 October 1913) was an Irish novelist, historian, entomologist, gardener, and poet from County Kildare. Her innovative...
States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the...
Fred Lawless is a British playwright from Liverpool who writes mainly for the stage, but also for television and radio. Fred Lawless was born in Dingle...
over the Kingdom of Cochin. Following an investigation into the rampant lawlessness and the abuse of the system, Colonel Munro surveyed the region with his...
film Zero Dark Thirty. Clarke played a major role in the 2012 crime film Lawless. He played George Wilson in the 2013 remake of The Great Gatsby. Also,...
Retrieved March 1, 2023. "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Colleen R. Lawless, of Illinois, to be U.S. District Judge for the Central District of Illinois)"...
Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules (ISBN 0-670-03452-5) is a book by the British lawyer and author, Philippe Sands. It...
the early 2000s to combat the lawlessness stemming from the Somali Civil War. By mid-to-late 2006, the Islamic Courts had expanded their influence to...
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial court with jurisdiction over the...
the incident for The New Republic, described Maryville, Missouri as a "lawless hellhole". In 2014, a special prosecutor was put in charge to reinvestigate...
imminent lawless action". Brandenburg is now the standard applied by the Court to free speech issues related to advocacy of violence. Imminent lawless action...
The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government...
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