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Articles

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2021): Illuminatio/Svjetionik/Almanar

Muslim Influence on the Legal Reform of King Henry II in England in the XII Century

DOI
https://doi.org/10.52510/sia.v2i2.29
Submitted
October 18, 2021
Published
2021-10-27

Abstract

Undertaking legislative reform becomes necessary when the legal system does not respond to the needs of society in changed social circumstances. The reform can be carried out on the basis of existing sources, within the legal system to be reformed, or by borrowing institutions from more advanced systems, which are already known. After the 11th century, following the revival of the function of the state in Europe, more and more rulers resorted to the reform of the legal system, as a response to the growing problems that society was facing. This reform began in Sicily in 1140, with the enactment of Assizes from Ariano and continued in England with the enactment of The Assize of Clarendon ? (1166) by King Henry II. In an attempt to point out the possible influence that took place by taking ready-made solutions from one legal tradition to another, the historical and comparative method is used. Some legal institutions that were part of this reform indicate that these were transplants that the Anglo-Saxon and Norman traditions did not know. The solutions adopted point to similarities with the Sharia legal tradition, and their transposition into the English legal system could have come through people who were in the service of the Norman rulers in Sicily (Roger II) and who later entered the service of King Henry II.