Peace was regarded as an insult to the king personally. Trespass, the origin of modern Law of Torts was born out of the desire to preserve the King's Peace.
41 Trespass the direct lineage of the Law of Tort From its very humble beginnings, the concept (an abstraction) of crimes against King’s Peace gradually created criminal and tortious liabilities. This was a result of an artificial extension of crimes against King’s Peace . Gradually the system arose of alleging that an offence, such as theft, was committed against the peace of the King , even though accompanied by no violence whatsoever against the person or property of the king. The modern branches of the laws all trace their ancestry to the old writs of trespass . You will later in this Study Manual study the Tort of Trespass. Liability for Trespass is the mother of all Crimes and Torts. The Tort of Trespass was found on the notion of Trespass vi et armis et contra pacem regis , meaning Trespass with force of arms against King’s Peace . As observed above, the King’s Peace was originally limited to the locality and the person of the King. But soon contra pacem regis was extended and became a mere fiction intended to protect peace in the King’s realm or kingdom. It was not long before members of the British upper classes, as a mark of status started to take their suits only to the King’s Courts by merely pleading
