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Statute of Westminster 1275

Act of Parliament
England
Long title	None
Citation	3 Edw. 1. cc 1–51
Territorial extent	England, later extended to Wales, Scotland, Ireland and British colonies
Dates
Made	April or May 1275
Royal assent	April or May 1275
Other legislation
Amended by	Criminal Statutes Repeal Act 1827 Criminal Statutes (Ireland) Repeal Act 1828 Criminal Law (India) Act 1828 Statute Law Revision Act 1863 Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872
Status: Partially repealed
Text of the Statute of Westminster, The First (1275) as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Statute of Westminster of 1275 (3 Edw. 1), also known as the Statute of Westminster I, codified the existing law in England, into 51 chapters. Chapter 5 (which mandates free elections) is still in force in the United Kingdom and the Australian state of Victoria whilst part of Chapter 1 remains in force in New Zealand. It was repealed in Ireland in 1983.

William Stubbs gives a summary of the Statute:

This act is almost a code by itself; it contains fifty-one clauses, and covers the whole ground of legislation. Its language now recalls that of Canute or Alfred, now anticipates that of our own day; on the one hand common right is to be done to all, as well poor as rich, without respect of persons; on the other, elections are to be free, and no man is by force, malice or menace, to disturb them. The spirit of the Great Charter is not less discernible: excessive amercements, abuses of wardship, irregular demands for feudal aids, are forbidden in the same words or by amending enactments. The inquest system of Henry II of England, the law of wreck, and the institution of coroners, measures of Richard and his ministers, come under review as well as the Provisions of Oxford and the Statute of Marlborough.

Though it is a matter of dispute when peine forte et dure (Law French for "hard and forceful punishment") was first introduced, chapter 3 states that those felons standing mute shall be put in prison forte et dure.

History

The Statute of Westminster of 1275 was one of two English statutes largely drafted by Robert Burnell and passed during the reign of Edward I. Edward I had returned from the Ninth Crusade on 2 August 1274 and was crowned King of England on 19 August. 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. It met at Westminster, its main work being the consideration of the Statute of Westminster I, the agreement of new levies in Ireland and allowing the King to levy a new tax on wool. This was drawn up, not in Latin, but in Norman French, and was passed "by the assent of Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, and the Commonalty of the Realm, being thither summoned."

According to Yuen Yuen Ang, the statute had replaced a previously communal regime of enforcing agreements with one based on "individual responsibility, territorial law, the central administration of justice, and personal collateral."

Chapters

The Statute of Westminster I is composed of 51 chapters:

Ireland

In the early history of the Lordship of Ireland, English statutes were often applied to Ireland. A 1285 writ authorised Stephen de Fulbourn, then Justiciar of Ireland, to apply there English statutes including Westminster I, Westminster II, Gloucester, and those of merchants. A 1320 act of the Parliament of Ireland (13 Edw. 2 c.2) readopted all these statutes. An act of Edward Poynings' 1495 session of the Parliament of Ireland adopted statutes "formerly made for the common weal" in England; later the Maintenance and Embracery Act 1634 adopted all English statutes dealing with champerty and maintenance and embracery. Many chapters of the 1275 English statute were repealed with respect to Ireland by the Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 98). In the Republic of Ireland, the Short Titles Act 1962 assigned the short title "Distress Act 1275" to chapter 16 of the 1275 English statute, as adopted under the 1495 Irish act; and the short title "Maintenance and Champerty Act 1275" to chapters 25 and 28 of the 1275 English statute, as adopted under the 1634 Irish act. The Statute Law Revision Act 1983 repealed the whole of the 1275 English statute and the 1285 and 1320 Irish statutes.

See also

• Statute of Westminster 1285
• Quia Emptores of 1290 is sometimes called the statute of Westminster III

References

1. ^ Statute of Westminster, The First (1275). Acts of the English Parliament. Vol. 1275 c. 5. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
2. Imperial Acts Application Act 1980 (Vic) s 8 "And because elections ought to be free, the King commandeth upon great forfeiture, that no man by force of arms, nor by malice, or menacing, shall disturb any to make free election."
3. Specifically, "so much of that Act as is stated in the words 'The King willeth and commandeth ... that common right be done to all, as well poor as rich, without respect of persons.'" Imperial Laws Application Act 1988 (Public Act 1988 No 112). New Zealand. 28 July 1988. sched 1.
4. Stubbs, William (1875). The Constitutional History of England in Its Origin and Development. The Clarendon press.
5. Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A, eds. (1867). New American Cyclopedia. Vol. 13. D. Appleton & Company. p. 84.
6. Powicke, F. M. (1962). The Thirteenth Century: 1216–1307 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 226.
7. ^ Given-Wilson, Chris; Brand, Paul; Phillips, Seymour; Omrod, Mark; Martin, Geoffrey; Curry, Anne; Horrox, Rosemary, eds. (2005). "Edward I: Easter 1275". Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. University of London. Retrieved 15 September 2021 – via British History Online.
8. Ang, Yuen Yuen (2016). How China Escaped the Poverty Trap. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-0020-0. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt1zgwm1j.
9. The Sheriffs Act 1887 had repealed it except for the end portion "so far as that portion relates to coroners"; the Coroners Act 1887 repealed "the whole chapter, so far as relates to coroners."
10. "Theft Act 1968".
11. Berry 1907, p.xiv
12. Berry 1907, p.47 fn.1
13. Berry 1907, p.46 fn.1 and p.281
14. "Ch.98, Schedule". The Public General Statutes. Vol. 35 & 36 Vict. Eyre and Spottiswoode at the Queen's Printing Office. 1872. pp. 754–755. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
15. "Short Titles Act, 1962, Schedule 2". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
16. "Short Titles Act, 1962, Schedule 3". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
17. "Statute Law Revision Act, 1983, Schedule Part I (1285 and 1320) and Part II (1275)". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
18. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Westminster, Statutes of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 551–552.

Notes

1. The Statute states this as the date - "These be the Acts of King Edward... made at Westminster at his first Parliament general after his Coronation, on the Monday of Easter Utas, the Third Year of his Reign"; however chronicle records suggest Parliament may not have sat until the beginning of May.

Sources

• Text of the Statute of Westminster the First 1275 (c. 5) as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. - Chapter 5 of the Statute
• Danby Pickering, ed. (1762). "Statute of Westminster the First". The Statutes at Large: From the Magna Charta, to the End of the Eleventh Parliament of Great Britain, Anno 1761 . Vol. I. Cambridge: Joseph Bentham. pp. 74–107. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
• Berry, Henry F., ed. (1907). Statutes and ordinances, and acts of the Parliament of Ireland. Statute rolls of the Parliament of Ireland (in French and English). Vol. 1 : King John to Henry V. Dublin: HMSO. Retrieved 25 August 2017.

Additional reading

• Tomlins, Thomas Edlyne; Raithby, John (1810). Statute of Westminster 1275 [3 Edw. I. - A.D. 1275 Statute I]. The Statutes of the Realm: Printed by Command of His Majesty King George the Third; in pursuance of an Address of the House of Commons of Great Britain. Vol. I. London, Great Britain: Dawson of Pall Mall. pp. 26–39. OCLC 426777557. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)

• 1275 in England
• 1270s in law
• 13th century in England
• Acts of the Parliament of England
• Acts of the Parliament of England still in force
• History of the City of Westminster
• Medieval English law