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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
Our court system has its origins hundreds of years ago in England. In the middle ages, people would come to the king on special days set aside for the hearing of "petitions," complaints made by someone (the ''petitioner'') against someone else (the ''respondent''). If the petition got heard, and not all did, the king would make a decision that the parties were obliged to accept, putting an end to the complaint. | Our court system has its origins hundreds of years ago in England. In the middle ages, people would come to the king or queen on special days set aside for the hearing of "petitions," complaints made by someone (the ''petitioner'') against someone else (the ''respondent''). If the petition got heard, and not all did, the king would make a decision that the parties were obliged to accept, putting an end to the complaint. | ||
As the rule of law became more and more important in maintaining a civil society and the law itself became more and more complicated, kings and queens began to farm out the job of hearing petitions to people specially appointed to hear them, called judges. Eventually the monarchy got out of the business altogether, and left the hearing of petitions to the judges. The English court system became more complex as time went on, and different types of courts, like the Courts of Equity and the Courts of the Exchequer, were eventually set up to deal with different kinds of problems. | As the rule of law became more and more important in maintaining a civil society and the law itself became more and more complicated, kings and queens began to farm out the job of hearing petitions to people specially appointed to hear them, called judges. Eventually the monarchy got out of the business altogether, and left the hearing of petitions to the judges. The English court system became more complex as time went on, and different types of courts, like the Courts of Equity and the Courts of the Exchequer, were eventually set up to deal with different kinds of problems. |
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