146 The Period of Constitution Making
preliminary question was one of importance and Henry
ordained that it should be determined by putting on
oath twelve men of the locality where the land lay
and causing them to state which it was. But this ques-
tion might arise when it was preliminary to no
further question about the land, and this method of
determining it developed into a regular action in the
royal courts, known as the assize utrum. It became the
normal action, touching right in land, in use by parish
priests. There is some evidence that before Henry's
time the same method had been occasionally used, but
he made it normal. In the Constitutions of Clarendon,
Henry also claimed successfully for the royal courts cases
involving the right to present to churches and also debt
cases. He further claimed the punishment of criminous
clerks who had been tried and convicted in the church
courts, but owing to the unfortunate ending of his con-
flict with Becket he was not able to keep this.
Two years later, he instituted an action far more im-
portant than the assize utrum. In the disorderly state of
society produced by the preceding reign, violent and un-
just disseisins were common; men were thrust out of the
seisin or possession of their lands by the strong hand and
left to the doubtful and dilatory justice of the old courts
to recover it. To remove this abuse and bring order into
society, Henry determined to protect possession, as such,
by a summary process in his own court. Suppose A
claimed that without court judgment he had been recently
turned out of possession by B. A could now obtain a
writ from the king ordering his justices to summon twelve
men of the locality where the alleged disseisin had taken
place, put them on oath, and ask them this question:
Has B since such a time, unjustly and without a judgment,
disseized A of such a holding? If the answer was yes,
A was restored to his possession. To be sure, B may have
had a better right to the land notwithstanding ^4's pos-
session of it, but this must be shown in the courts and a
judgment obtained, It was Henry's purpose to have no