An English man's home is his castle

An Englishman's home is his castle

Meaning

The English dictum that a man's home is his refuge.

Origin

The maxim that 'An Englishman's home (or occasionally, house) is his
castle' is most often cited these days in articles in the British
right-wing press that bemoan the apparent undermining of the perceived
principle that a man can do as he pleases in his own house, which they
hold up as an ancient right. The grumbles centre about the feminist
'what about Englishwomen?' response and the public disquiet about the
smacking of children, attacking of intruders etc. The proverb was used
in almost all of the articles about the court case of Tony Martin in
2000. Martin was convicted by jury trial of murder, after shooting and
killing a 16-year old who had broken into his house in Norfolk, UK.

Did Englishmen actually ever have a unique right to act as they please
within the walls of their own home? Well, yes and no. Yes, in the
sense that it has been a legal precept in England, since at least the
17th century, that no one may enter a home, which would typically then
have been in male ownership, unless by invitation. This was
established as common law by the lawyer and politician Sir Edward Coke
(pronounced Cook), in The Institutes of the Laws of England, 1628:

"For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique est tutissimum
refugium [and each man's home is his safest refuge]."

This enshrined into law the popular belief at the time, which was
expressed in print by several authors in the late 16th century,
including Richard Mulcaster, the headmaster of Merchant Taylors'
School in London, in his treatise on education - Positions, which are
necessarie for the training up of children, 1581:

"He [the householder] is the appointer of his owne circumstance, and
his house is his castle."

Judged against the standards of his time, Mulcaster was an enlightened
educationalist. His charges were nevertheless terrified of him and he
condoned methods in the 'castle' of his school that would result these
days in a visit from Social Services. His own experience in castles
wasn't that happy either. He was imprisoned for theft in 1555 in the
Tower of London and probably tortured into a confession.

What was meant by 'castle' was defined in 1763 by the British Prime
Minister with an admirable selection of names to choose from - William
Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham, a.k.a. Pitt the Elder:

"The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of
the crown. It may be frail - its roof may shake - the wind may blow
through it - the storm may enter - the rain may enter - but the King
of England cannot enter."

It is clear from the above that the law was established to give
householders the right to prevent entry to their homes. Like the 'rule
of thumb', which was popularly and mistakenly believed to be the right
of a man to beat his wife, the 'Englishman's home is his castle' rule
didn't establish a man's right to take actions inside the home that
would be illegal outside it.

The principle was exported to the United States where, not
unnaturally, the 'Englishman' was removed from the phrase. In 1800,
Joel Chandler Harris's biography of Henry W. Grady, the journalist and
writer on the US Constitution, included this line:

"Exalt the citizen. As the State is the unit of government he is the
unit of the State. Teach him that his home is his castle, and his
sovereignty rests beneath his hat."

These days, with all the news of banking collapses and mortgage
foreclosures, men and women, English or American, might be glad to
have somewhere to call home, even if they have to obey the law when
inside it.