Peace (law)

By the time of the Norman Conquest, the notion of the king's peace became more general, referring to the safeguarding of public order more broadly.

The concept has remained relevant in English law; in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Northumbria Police Authority (1989), the Court of Appeal for England and Wales held that the government could exercise prerogative powers to maintain the peace of the realm.

[2] Under the reigns of Æthelred and Cnut, the concept of king's peace had already extended to designated times, places, individuals, and institutions.

[5][4][6] The Leges Edwardi Confessoris provided that the weeks for Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost were under the king's peace as well.

"[3] Historian John Hudson had commented that Henry I's cornational declaration of peace was non-specific, but did emphasize "the association of both the ideals and the practical enforcement of good order with firm kingship" as characterized by, among other things, an expansion of royal judicial activity.

[10] In traditional common law, a killing of a human was a murder only if the victim was "under the king's peace" (i.e., not an outlaw or an enemy soldier in wartime).

[14][15][16] Similarly, the maiming of a person was an offense against the king because it reduced "the value of a human resource, in this case, by rendering him incapable of military service.

[23] Unlike medieval England, there is no strong evidence "for a strong conceptual and ideological royal peace" concept in medieval Scotland; however, historian Alan Harding argues that 12th-century royal brieves of protection issued by Scottish kings implicitly reflect the same concept.

[27] The application of criminal statutes on disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct have been limited by constitutional jurisprudence on the First Amendment, including the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) and Colten v. Kentucky (1972).

"[29] The concept of the king's peace is significant in the historiography of medieval England, particularly regarding the study of the origin of the idea of crime.

[13] Black's Law Dictionary defines the term as "the king's guarantee of peace and security of life and property to all within his protection.