orman Conquest had exercised authority in a twofold
capacity. On one hand he was the head of the nation, on the other hand
he was the feudal lord of his vassals. Edward laid more stress than
any former king upon his national headship. Early in his reign he
organised the courts of law, completing the division of the _Curia
Regis_ into the three courts which existed till recent times: the
Court of King's Bench, to deal with criminal offences reserved for the
king's judgment, and with suits in which he was himself concerned; the
Court of Exchequer, to deal with all matters touching the king's
revenue; and the Court of Common Pleas, to deal with suits between
subject and subject. Edward took care that the justice administered in
these courts should as far as possible be real justice, and in =1289=
he dismissed two Chief Justices and many other officials for
corruption. In =1285= he improved the Assize of Arms of Henry II. (see
p. 154), so as to be more sure of securing a national support for his
government in time of danger.

5. =Edward's Legislation. 1279--1290.=--It was in accordance with the
national feeling that Edward, in =1290=, banished from England the
Jews, whose presence was most profitable to himself, but who were
regarded as cruel tyrants by their debtors. On the other hand, Edward
took care to assert his rights as a feudal lord. In =1279=, by the
statute _De religiosis_, commonly known as the Statute of Mortmain, he
forbade the gift of land to the clergy, because in their hands land
was no longer liable to the feudal dues. In =1290=, by another
statute, _Quia emptores_, he forbade all new sub-infeudation. If from
henceforth a vassal wished to part with his land, the new tenant was
to hold it, not under the vassal who gave it up, but under that
vassal's lord, whether the lord was the king or anyone else. The
object of this law was to increase the number of tenants-in-chief, and
thus to bring a larger number of landowners into direct relations with
the king.

[Illustration: Nave of Lichfield Cathedral, looking east. Built about
1280.]

6. =Edward as a National and as a Feudal Ruler.=--In his government of
England Edward had sought chiefly to strengthen his position as the
national king of the whole people, and to depress legally and without
violence the power of the feudal nobility. He was, however, ambitious,
with the ambition of a man conscious of great and beneficent aims, and
he was quite ready to enforce