International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2024

 

Fines in Medieval England in the Context of Legal Civilization

(Abstract)

 

Gao Rui

 

Fines were a very common financial penalty in medieval English judicial judgment, levied by the courts in accordance with customary law jurisprudence. After the Norman Conquest, the system of fines replaced the Anglo-Saxon system of compensation, and the earliest records of fine governing commercial offence appeared at the end of the 12th century. The Magna Carta of 1215 clearly set out the principles and manner in which fines were to be levied, that is, the fine should be consistent with the crime, and that it must be assessed in order to be levied when there was a lack of jurisprudence. Fines have as their main juridical reference the checks and balances between rights and obligations under different secular legal systems. From the point of the rule of law culture, fines are objectively levied in accordance with the law, and they are judicially progressive in lieu of blood feud.