Programme guide
No matter who you are or what you do, every aspect of your life is now governed by the law, from where you walk, how much you can drink, to how you should behave in public. It's surprising, therefore, how little most of us know about how our laws came into being.In this series, Tony Robinson asks the questions: where do our laws come from, who made them, and why? We discover that the Normans
created the first mass surveillance society, the Saxons devised the idea of compensation, and how modern ideas of punishment and rehabilitation grew up along with industrialised society in the eighteenth century.
Programme 1: Feud Glorious Feud
We journey back to the Dark Ages, before laws were written down and trials involved harsh physical ordeals with boiling water and red hot pokers. But by the end of this period, the Saxons had created the very first sophisticated legal systems of courts and juries some 200 years before they were formally introduced.
We journey back to the Dark Ages, before laws were written down and trials involved harsh physical ordeals with boiling water and red hot pokers. But by the end of this period, the Saxons had created the very first sophisticated legal systems of courts and juries some 200 years before they were formally introduced.
Programe 2: Guilt As Charred
The period up to and after the Norman invasion was perhaps the most turbulent in the history of law. But in the 150 years from 1066, the legal system was transformed. This period saw the signing of the Magna Carta and the establishment of the three major planks of a modern legal system: independent judges, trial by jury, and English common law.
The period up to and after the Norman invasion was perhaps the most turbulent in the history of law. But in the 150 years from 1066, the legal system was transformed. This period saw the signing of the Magna Carta and the establishment of the three major planks of a modern legal system: independent judges, trial by jury, and English common law.
Programme 3: New King on the Block
The battle over freedom of speech and how the monarch finally lost its power, and its head. As crucial as the Magna Carta, the introduction of the Bill of Rights in 1688 saw Parliament and politicians now assume complete domination over the monarchy for good.
The battle over freedom of speech and how the monarch finally lost its power, and its head. As crucial as the Magna Carta, the introduction of the Bill of Rights in 1688 saw Parliament and politicians now assume complete domination over the monarchy for good.
Programme 4: Have I Got Noose for You
Programme 4 examines the huge escalation in the amount of law-making with the rise of industrialised society in the eighteenth century. And with thinkers such as Voltaire, Locke and especially Jeremy Bentham, the modern ideas of prison, reform and rehabilitation for offenders begin to emerge.
Programme 4 examines the huge escalation in the amount of law-making with the rise of industrialised society in the eighteenth century. And with thinkers such as Voltaire, Locke and especially Jeremy Bentham, the modern ideas of prison, reform and rehabilitation for offenders begin to emerge.
