`   ::Note: in the literature, ``modern English history`` means after 1066. Before William the Conqueror, under Anlgo-Saxon customary law was, if one of my kin is killed by one of yours, justice is served if one of my kin kills one of yours. see Hatfield–McCoy feud for a 20th C. American example. Early in Norman rule, murder became a crime against the Crown, not the deceased family. The accused went before a King's court. The jury was empaneled by twelve peers. Thus if you were an accused baron with ten men-at-arms, the jury had 120 at their command. The king needed no standing army to enforce the jury's decision, the sheriff had immediate resort to an armed posse, and the Normans won the affection of the great mass of the people, who otherwise lived under a feudal order where the lord could literally get away with murder.   `