Handbooks

Handbooks in United Kingdom

Handbooks of Procedure

For information about this topic, please read the entry, in this legal Encyclopedia, about: Handbooks of Procedure

Handbooks and Medieval Law

Handbooks and Legal History

Legal Materials

(Compiled by the University of South Caroline Gould School of Law) Maitland, Frederic W., and W. Paley Baildon, eds. The Court Baron. The Selden Society (SS), 4 for 1890. London: Quaritch, 1891.

Abstract: “This book consists of five parts. Four of these are texts of old tracts on the holding of feudal courts, viz. La Court de Baron of about 1280, De Placitis et Curiis Tenendis of about 1270, and two books called Modus tenendi Curias dating from about 1307 and the other from about 1342. The fifth section is a record of pleas tried in the court of the Bishop of Ely, at Littleport, 1285-1327. The precedent books were used as a guide for the stewards of manorial courts.”

Phayer, Thomas. A Newe Boke of Presidentes in Maner of a Register, Wherin Is Comprehended the Very Trade of Makyng All Maner Euydence and Instrumentes of Practyse, Ryght Commodyous and Necessary for Euery Man to Knowe. London: Edward Whytchurche , 1543.

Notes: Also available online in Early English Books Online (subscription database)Abstract: At least 18 editions were published before 1600. A comprehensive collection of all kinds of legal documents, besides a calendar of court sessions.

Rastell, William, ed. A Colleccion of Entrees, of Declaracions, Barres, Replicacions, Reioinders, Issues, Verdits, Iudgements, Executions, Proces, Contynuances, Essoynes, & Diuers Others Matters. And Fyrst an Epistle, With Certayne Instructions Necessarye to Bee Redde for the Redy Fyndi(n)Ge of the Matters in Thys Booke. London: Richardi Tottell, 1566.

Notes: Also available online in Early English Books Online (subscription database)Abstract: Mostly in Latin, partly in Law French. A systematic subject arrangement of legal forms and entries.

Ratcliff, Sidney C., A. J. Collins , and Bertram Schofield , eds. Legal and Manorial Formularies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933.

Abstract: Text in Latin. Edited from original manuscripts dating to about 1300 in the British Museum and the PRO.

Thorne, Samuel E., ed. Readings and Moots at the Inns of Court in the Fifteenth Century. The Selden Society (SS), 71 for 1952. London: Quaritch, 1953.

Abstract: Translations of Norman-French manuscripts of readings from the early and middle part of the fifteenth century. The ‘old statutes’ of Henry III and Edward I were the main subjects studied.

Turner, George J., ed. Brevia Placitata. The Selden Society (SS), 66 for 1947. London: Quaritch, 1951.

Abstract: A 13th century treatise in Norman French on pleading in the King’s courts. It appears to have been written in 1260 and contains the earliest collection of common law pleadings, dating from the mid-thirteenth century.

Vacarius, and Francis de Zulueta, ed. The Liber Pauperum of Vacarius. The Selden Society (SS), 44 for 1927. London: Quaritch, 1927.

Abstract: “An edition in nine books of Vacarius’ epitome and gloss of the Roman ‘Corpus Juris.’ … An important contribution to medieval civil law studies.”

Woodbine, George E., and Ralph de Hengham, ed. Four Thirteenth Century Law Tracts: a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Yale University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. New Haven: Yale University Press , 1910.

Notes: Also available online in The Making of Modern Law (subscription database)Abstract: Contents: Introduction; Fet Asaver; Judicium Essoniorum; Modus Componendi Brevia; Exceptiones ad Cassandum Brevia. Tracts compiled for the use of English lawyers, the authorship of the first three has been attributed to Sir Ralph de Hengham. Fet Asaver, probably written before 1275, is in Anglo-French. Judicium Essoniorum, probably dates to 1267-1275 and Modus Componendi Brevia, written sometime after 1285 are both in Latin. Exceptiones ad Cassandum Brevia is in Anglo-French.

Wormald, Patrick, ed. The First Code of English Law . Canterbury: Canterbury Commemoration Society , 2005.

Abstract: Includes: Fet Asaver; Judicium Essoniorum; Modus Componendi Brevia; Exceptiones ad Cassandum Brevia. The first three of these tracts, compiled for the use of English lawyers, have been attributed to Sir Ralph de Hengham. Fet Asaver, probably written before 1275, is in Anglo-French. Judicium Essoniorum, probably dates to 1267-1275 and Modus Componendi Brevia, written sometime after 1285 are both in Latin. Exceptiones ad Cassandum Brevia is in Anglo-French. All these are also reproduced in George Woodbine’s FourTthirteenth Century Law Tracts.

Bibliographies of English Law History

  • Maxwell, William H. A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Volume 1: English Law to 1800. London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1955-
  • Beale, Joseph H. A Bibliography of Early English Law Books. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926.
  • Winfield, Percy H. The Chief Sources of English Legal History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925.

Resources

See Also

  • Negligence (in this legal Encyclopedia)
  • Deceit (in this legal Encyclopedia)
  • Tenure (in this legal Encyclopedia)
  • Marriage (in this legal Encyclopedia)
  • History Definition (in this legal Encyclopedia)

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