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How Successful Were Wolsey's Domestic Policies

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How successful were Wolsey’s domestic policies?
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One area that Wolsey did try to reform was England’s legal system. England mainly used common law at that time however civil law was seen as more modern and was favored in southern Europe. Civil law was used in the King’s council when it acted as a court of law. As Lord Chancellor Wolsey had oversight over the legal system in England. The law awakened Wolsey’s intellectual interest. He was a judge in the Chancery Court and handled disputes over wills, contracts and property. He had successfully reformed the Star Chamber where he was determined to get rid of corruption. He made it much fairer, cheaper and more efficient and was not afraid to take on the powerful. He had the Earl of Northumberland jailed for contempt of court. Wolsey Had genuine concern and wanted to improve the administration. He knew that common law courts were controlled by money which made it impossible for the poor to use so they could not get any justice. There were many problems with Common law for example the decisions of courts could be corruptly influenced or ignored by the powerful, cases took too long to resolve causing them to be very expensive which most people could not afford. Wolsey’s solution to all these problems was to increase the role of the prerogative courts which developed from the king’s council. The system that these courts would use was called “equity” and it was based on common sense and what seemed fairer rather that the common law. This could deliver swift justice which meant that it was significantly cheaper. This was because there was no complex technical arguments that dominated common law. However, Wolsey did not support the legal rights just for the poor he used them to get back at all the nobility that had caused him grief in the past and treated him with disrespect because of his background. Overall I think that

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