Excerpt from The Growth of Political Liberty: A Source Book of English History
Pass now to a very solid staple landmark in the English scene - London, whose first Commune, as it was called Communa Regis - was, curiously enough, set up by law, while the king, Richard I., was on crusade and out Of London and the kingdom. Stubbs leads us to View this incorporation of London as marking two significant changes: (i) the Victory Of the communal principle over the old shire organisation, and (2) the triumph of the London merchant over the noble. That was in the years 1191 - 1200; and already the law had let in the common man as a judicial asset in the jury ordered in criminal cases by the Assize of Clarendon.
The Great Charter follows, with its remedy of feudal abuses, and its special provisions for the safeguarding of the tenant, the heir at law, the king’s labourer and the common man. NO man, it said, is to be put in prison.
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