o include the church in his reform of the legal system,
which would make the spiritual jurisdiction and temporal
jurisdiction conform to a common justice. Toward this end, he
published the Constitutions of Clarendon. But the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Thomas Becket, refused to agree to them, although as
Chancellor he had seen the beneficial effects on the kingdom of
Henry's legal measures. The disagreement came to a head in Henry's
attempt to establish the principle of "one law to all" by having
church clerics punished by the civil courts as before, instead of
having "benefit of clergy" to be tried and punished only in
ecclesiastical courts, even for secular crimes. Clerics composed
about one-sixth the population. The church courts had
characteristically punished with spiritual penalties of a fine or
a penance, and at most defrocking. It could not impose a death
penalty, even for murder. When Archbishop Becket was murdered and
became a martyr, "benefit of clergy" became a standard right,
except for offenses in the king's forests. Appeals could be made
to the pope without the king's permission. The king could take a
criminal cleric's chattels, but not his life. However, though
theoretically bishops were elected by the body of bishops with the
approval of the king, as a practical matter, the king chose the
bishops and the abbots. It was a constant matter of dispute, in
which the pope would sometimes involve himself. Selection of
archbishops was also a frequent matter of contention between king
and pope.

The church copied the assize procedure developed by the Royal
Court to detect ecclesiastical offenses. Trial was still by
compurgation. Bishops could request the Chancery to imprison an
offender who had remained excommunicant for forty days, until he
made amends. Chancery complied as a matter of course. This went on
for six centuries.

The delineations of jurisdiction among these courts were confused
and there was much competing and overlapping of jurisdictions.
However, the court could appoint arbitrators or suggest to the
parties to compromise to avoid the harshness of a decisive
judgment which might drive the losing party to violent self-help.

The office of coroner was established about 1194 to supplement the
judicial investigations of crimes with local officers prior to the
arrival of the itinerant justices. Four knights who were residents
of the county and possessed sufficient land were elected by the
county co