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Legal Definitions - statute roll
Definition of statute roll
A statute roll was a historical document, typically a long scroll made of parchment, on which a new law (known as a statute) was formally and officially recorded after it had received the necessary final approval to become effective. In systems with a monarchy, this final approval was often referred to as royal assent. The statute roll served as the authoritative physical record of the law's exact wording and existence.
Example 1: Recording a New Tax Law
In a medieval kingdom, after the King and his council debated and finally approved a new law imposing a tax on imported goods, the official scribes would meticulously hand-copy the entire text of this new law onto a large parchment scroll. Once completed and perhaps authenticated with a royal seal, this scroll would become the statute roll for that specific tax law, carefully preserved in the royal archives. It represented the definitive, official version of the law.
Example 2: Resolving a Land Dispute
Imagine a dispute in the 15th century over the inheritance of a parcel of land. To determine the legal rights of the claimants, a judge might order a clerk to retrieve the relevant statute roll from the royal treasury or chancery. The clerk would unroll the ancient parchment to find the precise wording of the property laws enacted decades earlier, ensuring that the court's judgment was based on the exact, officially recorded legislation.
Example 3: Historical Research into Labor Laws
A historian studying the evolution of labor rights in 13th-century England might spend time examining ancient government records. Among these documents, they could discover several statute rolls detailing various ordinances concerning wages, working conditions, or guild regulations. By analyzing these original rolls, the historian can accurately understand the precise legal framework and the exact language of the laws as they were officially approved and recorded during that period, providing invaluable insight into the historical legal landscape.
Simple Definition
A statute roll was a historical document, specifically a physical roll, used to formally record a new law. Once a proposed law received the monarch's approval (royal assent), its official text was inscribed onto this roll, serving as the definitive record of the statute.