248 The Period of Constitution Making
trial, but this Is not clear—be sentenced to the layman's
punishment, to death or mutilation.1
Becket objected to three parts of this procedure: the
preliminary hearing in the lay court, the sending of the
royal officer into the church court, the infliction of the
layman's punishment upon the deposed clerk. The first
two of these were clearly contrary to the Decretum; but
Henry felt that he had conceded all that he could when
he allowed the canonical trial, and seemed disposed to
emphasise the fact that he was not contradicting the canon
law. These were all important points, but the question
of punishment was vital. Becket rested his objection
upon the principle that a man should not be punished
twice for the same offence* But the Decretum does not
seem to contemplate the case under consideration in con-
nection with that principle, and Becket was quite original
in his application of it and in the prominence which he
gave it. He argued that degradation was the extreme
punishment of the church and was sufficient for the first
offence; if the man committed a second crime, he did it
as a layman and would receive the layman's punishment.
Henry regarded it as subversive of law and order to allow
every clerk to commit one crime for which there was no
adequate punishment. There was small chance of their
coming to an agreement. Henry's position was substan-
tially correct historically; it represented the practice of
his grandfather's time. Becket's position was correct
canonically, with the probable exception of the matter of
punishment. Henry's position was certainly in harmony
with the requirements of good government.
In the Constitutions of Clarendon, Henry not only at-
tacked the church's claim to exclusive jurisdiction over
clerks, but also its claim to some important civil actions.
In the first article, he demanded all advowson cases. In
the ninth article he drew into his court a preliminary pro-
1 P. and M. L, 448, For a full discussion, see Maitland, Roman Canon
Law in ike Churck of Englandt essay iv.