In a four-part series, Tony Robinson goes on a fascinating and sometimes bizarre journey to discover the origins of our laws and what we do to people when they break them. From trials by boiling water, through the decapitation of a king, to the emergence of our modern democracy, it is a journey that starts two thousand years ago and remains unfinished today.
Part 1: "Feud Glorious Feud"
We journey back to the Dark Ages, before laws were written down and trials involved harsh physical ordeals with boiling water and red hot pokers. But by the end of this period, the Saxons had created the very first sophisticated legal systems of courts and juries some 200 years before they were formally introduced.
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