Before 1500

1085 - Domesday Book: It is a complete description of England written in at least two volumes by the orders of William the Conqueror. It tells how much land was in use, how it was used, how much it yielded, how many people it supported, what dues they owed their lord, and what equipment and stock they possessed.
1164 - Constitutions of Clarendon: These defined the customs of the Church before King Stephen's reign.
1181 - Assize of Arms: It defined the equipment that every English freeman must have ready to give military service to the King when it was needed.
1215 - Magna Carta: It included in sixty-two clauses an affirmation of the King's duties to the Church, his rights towards his vassals, a list of reforms required in the royal administration, and promises of a more clearly articulated system of justice.
1258 - Provisions of Oxford: A council of fifteen members was to be appointed to advise the king on all matters relating to the government of the country and to propose reforms. The Great Council was to meet three times a year. Another council of twelve members was to be appointed to insure that the Parliament's decisions were carried out. The principal ministers, judges, and sheriffs would hold office for one year.
1259 - Provisions of Westminster: They were an extension of the Provisions of Oxford, making a limitation of baronial jurisdiction. Freeholders were permitted to invoke the assistance and the protection of the royal courts and the royal officers to stop exasctions by great lords upon their tenants.
1284 - Statute of Wales: The arrangements for the government of Wales were defined. The English shire system was introduced. Courts of Exchequer and Chancery were set up in north Wales. The position of Lords Marchers was defined and limited.
1266 - Statute of Marlborough: The chief of the Provisions of Westminster were re-enacted and the Great Charter was once again confirmed.
1275 - First Statute of Westminster: It dealt with the administrative abuses exposed by the commissioners.
1278 - Statute of Gloucester: It directed the justices to inquire by writs of Quo Warranto into the rights of feudal magnates to administer the law by their own courts and officials within their desmesnes, and ordained that those rights should be strictly defined.
1279 - Statute of Mortmain: It forbade gifts of land to be made to the Church, though the practice was allowed to continue under royal licence.
1285 - Statute of Winchester: It attacked local disorder.
1285 - Second Statute of Westminster: It strengthened the system of entailed estates.
???? - Third Statute of Westminster: The buyer of land in the future must hold his purchase not from the seller, but the seller's lord, and by the same feudal services and customs as were atached to the land before the sale.
1350 - Ordinance and Statute of Laborers: It aimed at fixing both wages and prices and set up justices with the power to fix wage rates.
1351 - Statute of Provisor: The obtaining of a benefice in the Church by reservation or provision from the pope, in derogation of the rights of patrons was made a criminal act.
1353, 1365, 1391 - Statutes of Praemunire: These imposed severe punishment on those who secured papal privileges contrary to the king's rights or who appealed to papal courts when the royal courts claimed jurisdiction.
1368 - Statutes of Kilkenny: English lieges were forbidden to marry Irish, speak Irish, sell arms or horses to the Irish, or to entertain Irish minstrels. Men of the Irish race living in English-held parts of Ireland were to conform to English ways.
1461 - Act of Attainder: The throne and one-third of the estates changed hands.
c.1497 - Statute of Fines: It provided for the clearing up of property disputes following the civil wars.