Ranulf de Glanvill in United Kingdom

Ranulf de Glanvill

Introduction to Ranulf de Glanvill

Ranulf de Glanvill (1130?-1190), English statesman and jurist, born in Stratford (now Stratford Saint Andrew), Suffolk. He was sheriff of Yorkshire from 1163 to 1170 and of Lancashire after 1173. In 1176 he was appointed justice of the king’s court, and in 1180 he became justiciar (chief political and judicial officer) to King Henry II of England.

During Henry’s frequent sojourns in France, Glanvill ruled England. He reformed the English judicial system and was responsible for the first work embodying a systematic codification of English law, Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Regni Angli