Editing Quo warranto (section)

==Early history==
With the spread of royal justice in the 12th and 13th centuries, private franchises and liberties were increasingly called upon to uphold the king's peace: to act against "malefactors and peace breakers, so that it may appear that you are a lover of our peace".<ref>Henry III, 1237, in [[Helen Cam]] ''Law-finders and Law-makers'' (London 1962), pp. 38–39.</ref> From 1218 onwards,<ref>Helen Cam, ''Law-finders and Law-makers'' (London 1962), p. 39.</ref> royal [[Eyre (legal term)|Eyres]] also began using the old [[writ]] of {{lang|la|quo warranto}}&nbsp;– a court order to show proof of authority, as for example (literally) "By what warrant are you the sheriff?"&nbsp;– to investigate the origins of such franchises.<ref>S. H. Steinberg (ed.), ''A New Dictionary of British History'' (London 1963) p. 299.</ref> An inquest of 1255 began examining such liberties nationwide;<ref>Helen Cam, ''Law-finders and Law-makers'' (London 1962) pp. 39–40.</ref> and the same enquiry was taken up again by King [[Edward I of England]] in 1278, when he decreed in the [[Statute of Gloucester]] that "We must find out what is ours, and due to us, and others what is theirs, and due to them".<ref name="tanner394">J. R. Tanner (ed.), ''The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol VII'' (Cambridge, 1932), p. 394.</ref>

From one point of view this can be seen as an attempt to investigate and recover royal lands, rights, and franchises in [[England]],<ref name=Clanchy3>Clanchy ''From Memory to Written Record'', p. 3.</ref> in particular those lost during the reign of his father, [[King Henry III of England]].<ref>{{Cite book |page=74 |last=Harris |first=Nicholas |author2=Charles Purton Cooper |author2-link=Charles Purton Cooper |title=Public Records |year=1831 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |isbn=978-1-85285-137-8 |page=88 |last=Carpenter |first=David A. |author-link=David Carpenter (historian) |title=The Reign of Henry III |year=1996 }}</ref> From another, it was less of an attack on franchises as a clarification of them: in [[Hilda Johnstone]]'s words, "Edward's aim, it is clear, was from the first not abolition but definition".<ref name="tanner394"/>

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Statute of Quo Warranto
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = {{lang|la|Statutum de Quo Warranto}}
| year                  = 1290
| citation              = [[18 Edw. 1]]{{br}}(Ruffhead: 18 Edw. 1. Stat. 2)
| territorial_extent    = {{ubli|[[England and Wales]]|[[Ireland]]}}
| repeal_date           = 15 August 1879
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = [[Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879]]
| related_legislation   = [[Statutum de Quo Warranto Novum]]
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000017915496&seq=287
| collapsed             = yes
}}
{{anchor|Statutum de Quo Warranto Novum}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Statutum de Quo Warranto Novum
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = {{lang|la|Statutum de Quo Warranto Novum}}
| year                  = 1290
| citation              = [[18 Edw. 1]]{{br}}(Ruffhead: 18 Edw. 1. Stat. 3)
| territorial_extent    = {{ubli|[[England and Wales]]|[[Ireland]]}}
| repeal_date           = 15 August 1879
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = [[Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879]]
| related_legislation   = [[Statute of Quo Warranto]]
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000017915496&seq=287
| collapsed             = yes
}}
A similar ambiguity surrounds the role of the justices that, from 1278 to 1294, Edward dispatched throughout the [[Kingdom of England]] to inquire "by what warrant" English lords claimed their liberties and exercised jurisdiction, including the right to hold a court and collect its profits. Some of the justices demanded written proof in the form of charters, others accepted a plea of "immemorial tenure";<ref>Helen Cam, ''Law-finders and Law-makers'' (London, 1962), p. 41.</ref> and resistance<ref>Clanchy, ''From Memory to Written Record'', p. 7.</ref> and the unrecorded nature of many grants meant that eventually, by the {{visible anchor|Statute of Quo Warranto}} ([[18 Edw. 1]]) (1290), the principle was generally accepted that those rights peacefully exercised since 1189 – the beginning of the reign of Richard I, which is the legal definition in England of the phrase "[[time immemorial]]"<ref name=Clanchy3/><ref name=Clanchy152>Clanchy ''From Memory to Written Record'', p. 152.</ref> – were legitimate.<ref>S. H. Steinberg (ed.), ''A New Dictionary of British History'' (London, 1963), p. 299.</ref>

=== Publication ===
The {{lang|la|quo warranto}} pleas from the reigns of Edward I, [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] and [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] were published by the [[Record Commission]] in 1818.<ref>Illingworth 1818.</ref>