Places and Courts

original structure: County->Hundred->Tithing->Ville

Post-Norman, you also get the feudal/military tenure system, superimposed on the older system.

Biggest change is that the Sheriff goes from being a convener of the County Court to a functionary of the King's Bench.

Assizes and Eyre? sit under the dual, centralized structure of King's Bench? and Common Pleas? ; cases can move from County Court or a noble's court to KB, CP, etc., through various mechanisms. KB and CP are peer courts- one can't overrule the other, so you get conflicts which are resolved by a variety of means.

You get jurisdiction in the county court structure by presenting a bill. The same bill can be presented to the Assizes and Eyre, but they don't have to accept jurisdiction on the presented bill. They must accept writs (issued by/purchased from the chancery.)

Common Pleas, post-Magna Carta, has to stand still (not follow the king like King's Bench) and has exclusive jurisdiction over freeholds, which makes it a lucrative monopoly. This removes the jurisdiction over property from the location-oriented county courts.

Once Common Pleas is stationary, and various monopolies of access are created, they have incentive to create training/education- hence the Inns.

Note that the House of Lords has the only jurisdiction over members of the House of Lords; you need to try them in front of the House of Lords, unless Parliament is not in session, in which case you can try people in front of the Court of the Lord High Steward.