英美法律制度1.pptVIP

Introduction to Anglo-American Legal System CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GREAT BRITAIN 1.1 PRE-FEUDAL SOCIETY 1.1.1 Early Settlement（--55 B.C.) 3 Celtic tribes: Gaels (from about 750 B.C.) Britons (from about 500 B.C.) The third group came around 100 B.C. from Gaul. 1.1.2 The Roman Occupation (55 B.C.-410) Julius Caesar’s two invasions (between 55 and 54 B.C.)，Britain was a Roman province in name. Roman Occupation (43 A.D.—410A.D) The resulting growth of its civilization was more obvious in urban areas than among the agricultural peasants and weakest in the resistant highland zone. Slave society was introduced into England. 1.1.3 Anglo-Saxon Times The downfall of the Roman Empire in 410. The fierce northern tribes began to pour into the island from about the middle of the 5th century. They were the Germanic tribes the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The Celts were wholly defeated Before long the distinctions between these three tribes lost significance, and by the end of the 7th they regarded themselves as “the nation of the English”. Heptarchy: but they lacked unity and England was divided into a number of kingdoms, considered by historians to have been seven, and therefore called the “heptarchy”. Egbert, the king of Wessex, styled himself “King of the English” in 829. Christianity: all England was united under one well-organized church. The head of the Church was the Archbishop of Canterbury. 1.1.4 The invasion of Vikings and the Danish Rule Vikings, around the turn of the 8th century, invaded England. King Alfred of Wessex, after having defeated the Danes through many great battles, made an agreement with Guthrum, whom he had captured, that Guthrum was allowed to rule the north of England while he himself ruled the south. “Alfred the Great” – the beginning of Anglo-Saxon Times (871-1060) Near the end of the 10th century, during the reign of Ethelred, fresh waves of fierce Danish fighters from the continent