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Very little law, and less order! While there was a head law enforcement officer, and he might have a few assistants, most "law and order" was based on the concept of "hue and cry". The theory being that someone discovering a crime was to "raise the cry", and able bodied men within the sound of his voice were to respond, take into custody suspects found there, and hand them over to law enforcement.
There was a fair bit of crime- although things that you would consider a crime were not- and things that you would not consider a crime WERE crimes. Punishment was harsh- if convicted of a crime, you did not go to jail, but might be placed in the stocks, branded with a hot iron, have an ear cut off, be whipped or hanged.
Crimes such as robbery, burglary, murder, theft- even for small things- was punished by death. Your trial was run by very different rules than today- and if convicted, there generally was no appeal.
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Who was responsible for maintaining law and order in medieval Europe?
tamera cordice
What is a fine in medieval times?
A fine is a kind of punishment in which in the medieval times you would have to serve in humiliation for braking the law.
Why were the punishments so bad?
Law and order was very harsh in Medieval England. It was believed that people would only learn how to behave properly if they feared what would happen to them if they broke the law. Even the 'smallest' offences had serious punishments.
Why did law and order break down in Europe after the fall of Rome?
The breakdown of law and order was a problem of the Carolingian empire which was established by Charlemagne in 800, some 300 years after the fall of the western part of the Roman Empire. This was due to the problem of succession. Following Frankish custom, the empire was partitioned among the sons of the dead emperor. This repeatedly led to wars between the sons, in which other close relatives also got involved. It created a complex web of wars around most of the empire. The constant state of war led to the breakdown of central power and law and order, the rise of feudalism and the fall of the Carolingian empire 88 years later.
What did a watchmen in medieval times do?
They looked over the town and were responsible for secrurity.
