First eyre of English justices in common

1176

Henry II dispatched teams of royal judges on a general visitation of the counties, applying the Assize of Northampton. The regular eyres they established would bring the king's justice into every English village within a generation, eroding seigneurial courts. The travelling justices heard criminal cases, settled land disputes, and inspected local government, creating a uniform legal system that bound the kingdom together more effectively than any army.