Treatises in United Kingdom

Medieval Treatises

For information about this topic, please read the entry, in this legal Encyclopedia, about: Medieval Treatises

Treatises and Medieval Law

Treatises and Legal History

Legal Materials

(Compiled by the University of South Caroline Gould School of Law) Downer, L. J., ed and trans. Leges Henrici Primi. Oxford: Clarenden Press, 1996.

Notes: Also available online in Netlibrary (subscription database)Abstract: Latin text with translation and commentary. Probably written between AD 1100 and 1118, it constitutes the earliest legal textbook of medieval Europe. The author aimed to give an account of Anglo-Saxon law as amended by William I and Henry I, especially with respect to the role of the sheriffs. It was probably written as a supplement to the digest of Old English Laws known as Quadripartitus. Downer’s extensive introduction to this edition analyzes the manuscript sources of the Leges and the earlier editions and interpretations including that of Felix Liebermann, who includes it in his Gesetze. Also in Stubbs, Select Charters, 105.

Dugdale, William. Origines Juridiciales, or, Historical Memorials of the English Laws, Courts of Justice, Forms of Tryal, Punishment in Cases Criminal, Law-Writers, Law-Books, Grants and Settlements of Estates, Degree of Serjeant, Innes of Court and Chancery Also a Chronologie of the Lord Chancelors and Keepers of the Great Seal, Lord Treasurers, Justices Itinerant, Justices of the Kings Bench and Common Pleas, Barons of Exchequer, Masters of the Rolls, Kings Attorneys and Sollicitors, and Serjeants at Law . 3rd ed. London: Christopher Wilkinson, 1680.

Notes: Also available online in The Making of Modern Law and Early English Books Online (subscription databases)Abstract: Also known as Justices itinerant rolls.

Fitzneale, Richard, Charles G Crump, Arthur Hughes, and Charles Johnson, eds. De Necessariis Observantiis Scaccarii Dialogus; Commonly Called Dialogus De Scaccario . Oxford: Clarendon, 1902.

Notes: Also available online in The Making of Modern Law (subscription database)Abstract: Text in English and Latin. Contains reproductions of the original manuscriptsof Dialogus de Scaccario, dating from 1176-79 as they were found in the Red Book of the Exchequer (King’s Remembrancer, Miscellaneous Books, No.2) and the Black Book of the Exchequer (Exch. Treasury of Receipt). Includes also the text and translation of Constitutio Domus Regis, (The Establishment of the Royal Household) dated ca.1136, which describes in detail the Royal Household as it existed towards the end of the reign of Henry I. Reprinted in 1950.

Fortesque, John, and Charles Plummer, ed. The Governance of England: Otherwise Called the Difference Between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy . Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885.

Notes: Also available online in The Making of Modern Law (subscription database)Abstract: The earliest treatise on constitutional history, it was originally written between 1471 and 1476.

Fortesque, John, Francis Gregor, John Selden, and Ralph de Hengham. De Laudibus Legum Angliae. New ed. London: T. Evans, 1775.

Notes: First ed., 1616 also available online in ModernEconomy (subscription database)Abstract: Original Latin text by John Fortesque, written about 1468, discusses the advantages of English common law in relation to the Roman law, and explains the difference between and absolute and a limited monarchy. The two appended Summes of Sir Ralph de Hengham, commonly called Hengham Magna and Hengham Parva vulgo nuncupatae, are two tracts in Latin, probably written before 1290, both deal with procedure in certain real actions. 1775 edition is translated by F. Gregor, with notes by J. Selden.

Glanville, Ranulf de, and George D. G. Hall, ed. The Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Realm of England Commonly Called Glanvill. (Tractatus De Legibus Et Consuetudinibus Regni Anglie, Qui Glanvilla Vocatur). Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

Abstract: English translation of the George E. Woodbine edition of Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie qui Glanvilla vocatur, the first English common law treatise completed shortly before the end of the reign of Henry II, it reveals the law and procedure of the royal courts at the end of the twelfth century. Includes many law writs. Edited with introduction, notes, and translation by G. D. G. Hall, and with a guide to further reading by M. T. Clanchy.

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

• Ecclesiastical Law (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Ancient Law (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Magna Carta (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Usurpation (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Custom in Early Britain (in this legal Encyclopedia)