Justiciar Duty -- Judging a Duel

This record contains three documents. The first is from the Curia Regis Rolls -- first in latin and then a translation that was done for us.

Then there are two commentaries about the case taken from C. T. Flower, Introduction to the Curia Regis Rolls, 1199-1230 A.D.

The Curia Regis Rolls

1208. m. 13d

Ebor'.--Radulfus de Acton' appellat Ricarduum Vaccarium quod ipse venit cum vi sua, scilicet die Jovis proxima ante festum sancti Michaelis anno rengni regis Johannis octavo ad domum Gileberti Prepositi, in qua fuit Robertus filius Nicholai fil' avunculi sui, et latenter intravit . . . hachia et fratrem suum in pace domini regis et nequiter percussit in capite ita quod per plagam quam ipse ei fecit obiit infra viij. dies; et hoc offert disracionare versus eum prout curia consideraverit ut ille qui hoc vidit sicut fuit in hostio camere ejusdem domus; et Ricardus defendit feloniam et pacem regis fractam et mortem et totum de verbo in verbum prout curia consideraverit. Et testatum est quod Robertus adhuc . . . appellavit eundem Ricardum quod ipse captus fuit fugiendo per clamorem et per uthes levatum. Et [ideo] consideratum est quod duellum sit inter eos. Vadiatum ets; et fiat duellum coram vicecomite Willelmo de Perci Waltero de Bovinton', qui constituti sunt justiciarii ad hoc.

Turstanus de Munford' dat j. marcam pro habendo precipe etc.

Curia Regis Rolls of the Reigns of Richard I. and John, 8-10 John, His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1931, p. 268

translation

York.  Radulfus de Acton accuses Richard Vaccarium that he came under his own force on the day of Jupiter (Thursday) before the feast of St. Michael in the eighth year of king John’s rule to the home of Gilbert, where Robert, son of Nicholas, who is the son of his own maternal uncle, was, and secretly entered… and, in the peace of the lord king, villainously struck his brother on the head with an axe so that within eight days he died on account of the blow which he had given him.  And he offers this to prove against him just as the court has determined that he who saw this was in the guest room of the same house; and Richard defended the felony and the broken peace of the king and the death and everything word for word just as the court decided it.  And testimony was given that Robert still… accused the same Richard that he was caught in flight through the noise and ___.  And thus it was decided that there be trial by combat between them.  Surety was given, and let the duel take place in the presence of sheriff Willelmo de Perci, and Walter de Bovinton, who have been appointed justiciars for this matter.

...

C. T. Flower (1944) Introduction to the Curia Regis Rolls, 1199-1230 A.D., Selden Society, vol. 62.

[this is taken from a section about the use of ad hoc justiciarii in the record of the court.]

In another case the record uses the words justiciarii ad hoc. Ralph de Acton appealed Richard the Cowherd that he came with his force, on the Thursday before Michaelmas, 1206 (almost two years before the date of the record), and secretly entered in and struck his brother with a hatchet on the head so that he died within a week; and this he offered to prove as one who saw it when he was in the doorway of a chamber in that house. Richard denied the whole thing word for word. It was testified that Richard had been appealed and taken in flight by the hue and cry. It was held that there should be a duel between them. The duel was waged; and it was to take place before William de Percy, sheriff of Yorkshire, and Walter de Bovinton, who were appointed justices for this purpose. It was quite an ordinary procedure for an appeal for homicide to be decided by duel; and it is not clear why in this case a special appointment of justices was necessary. pp. 58-59.

[this is taken from a section on duels as they were used in trials]

Several other entries illustrate details in the procedure. late in the reign of Richard I, discipline seems to have been absent on the field of battle. Philip de Bristo appealed Robert Bloe because, after Philip had fought in a duel for the land of William de Pont des Arches in Wiltshire and had laid his fellow low, Robert came and took away his arms and hit him on the head with the club of the prostrate champion. Robert and all the knights denied this and said that they were present to keep the field by the order of Adam the Clerk, the sheriff's deputy, and they did nothing wrong there; they put themselves upon Adam and the record of the conty and asked that it should be allowed that all the champions were hired and and that no complaint was made in the county or elsewhere when the duel was fought. As there were three other appeals of violence on this occasion, in one of which it was alleged that a knife was drawn with intent to murder, it is unlikely that the umpires were very strict.

At a later date, in 1208, more careful arrangement were made and men of substance appointed to take charge. The case has already been described. It is one of some sixty heard by the justices at York and relating almost exclusively to that county. Ralph de Acton appealed Richard the Cowherd of house-breaking and the murder of his brother some two years earlier, as he offered to prove as one who saw it when he was at the door of the chamber of the house. After Richard had denied this, it was testified that Robert, Ralph's kinsman, had appealed Richard, so that he was taken as he fled by the hue and cry. A duel was therefore awarded, and it was to take place before men of high standing, William de Percy, the sheriff of Yorkshire, and Walter de Bovington, who were appointed justices for that purpose. p. 117.