61. Adams, W.H. Davenport
Learned in the Law; or Examples and Encouragements from the Lives of Eminent Lawyers.
London: S.W. Partridge & Co., [1882?]
vi, 392 pp. Reprinted 2002
ISBN 1-58477-238-7. Cloth. $100.

62. [American Association of Law Schools]
Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History. By Maitland, Pollock, Holmes, Beale, Holdsworth and Others.
Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1907
Three volumes. 847; 823; 862 pp. Reprinted 1992
LCCN 91-77977. ISBN 0-9630106-1-1. Cloth. $195.

63. Bacon, Sir Francis
The Elements of the Common Lawes of England, Branched into a Double Tract: The One Contayning A Collection of Some Principall Rules and Maximes of the Common Law, With Their Latitude and Extent. Explicated for the More Facile Introduction of Such as are Studiously Addicted to That Noble Profession.
[with]
The Other: The Use of the Common Law, for the Preservation of our Persons, Goods, and Good Names. According to the Lawes and Customes of this Land.
London: Printed by the assignes of I. More Esq., 1630
xix, 104, vii, 84 pp. Reprinted 2003
LCCN 2002025942. ISBN 1-58477-248-4
Cloth. $85.
* Bacon [1561-1626], one of the great intellectuals of the age, held the posts of Solicitor General, Attorney General and Lord Chancellor during the reign of James I. The Elements of the Common Laws of England is the general title for a work that is comprised of two different treatises: A Collection of Some Principall Rules and Maximes of the Common Lawes of England and The Use of the Law, Provided for the Preservation of Our Persons, Goods and Good Names. The first contains twenty-five maxims, or regulae. They are remarkable for their stylistic vigor, intellectual rigor, meticulousness and clarity. It was the first part of De Regulis Juris, a codification of English law that Bacon never completed. This is quite unfortunate, observes Holdsworth, because “he alone had the philosophical capacity, the historical knowledge and the literary taste needed to select the subject matter and shape the form of the books. (...) [Had he completed the book] there would be many who would question whether, as a lawyer, he was not Coke’s superior.” The second treatise is a review of the history and practical application of criminal law, estate law, personal property law and the law of slander (i.e. “the preservation of our good names from shame and infamy”). Holdsworth, A History of English Law V:498-499. Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 83-84.

64. Beard, Charles Austin
The Office of the Justice of the Peace in England, in its Origin and Development.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1904
184, [1] pp. Reprinted 2001
ISBN 1-58477-102-X. Cloth. $60.

65. Brown, Basil
Law Sports at Gray’s Inn (1594) Including Shakespeare’s connection with the Inns of Court, the origin of the Capias Utlegatum re Coke and Bacon, Francis Bacon’s connection with Warwickshire, together with a reprint of the Gesta Grayorum.
New York: [Privately Printed by the Author], 1921
xciv, 188, 88, [9] pp. Reprinted 2002
LCCN 99-049829. ISBN 1-58477-056-2. Cloth. $85.

66. Coke, Sir Edward
The First Part of the Institute of the Laws of England, or, A commentary upon Littleton.
Not the name of the Author only, but of the Law Itself. Revised and Corrected With Additions of Notes, References, and Proper Tables, by Francis Hargrave and Charles Butler, Esqrs. Of Lincoln’s Inn, Including also The Notes of Lord Chief Justice Hale and Lord Chancellor Nottingham; and An Analysis of Littleton, written by an unknown Hand in 1658-9.
By Charles Butler, Esq. The Eighteenth Edition, Corrected.
London, J. & W.T. Clarke, 1823
Two volumes. ccxvi,[606]; iv, [772] pp. Reprinted 2000
LCCN 99-41675. ISBN 1-58477-033-3. Cloth. $195.

67. Coke, Sir Edward
The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England;
Containing the Exposition of Many Ancient and Other Statutes.
London: Printed for W. Clarke and Sons, 1817
Star-paged. [18], 746, [49] pp. Reprinted 2002
ISBN 1-58477-200-X. Cloth. $125.

68. Coke, Sir Edward
The Third Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England;
Concerning High Treason, and Other Pleas of the Crown and Criminal Causes.
London: Printed for W. Clarke and Sons, 1817
Star-paged. [10], [244], [20] pp. Reprinted 2002
ISBN 1-58477-201-8. Cloth. $75.

69. Coke, Sir Edward
The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England;
Concerning The Jurisdiction of the Courts.
London: Printed for W. Clarke and Sons, 1817
Star-paged. [12], 364, [49] pp. Reprinted 2002
ISBN 1-58477-202-6. Cloth. $85.

70. Coke, Sir Edward
The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, Knt. In Thirteen Parts. A New Edition,
with Additional Notes and References, and with Abstracts of the Principal Points:
The First Three Parts and the Fourth to Fol. 38a. by John Henry Thomas, Esq.
The Rest of the Fourth and the Remaining Nine Parts by John Farquhar Fraser, Esq.
London: Joseph Butterworth and Son, 1826
Six volumes. With a new introduction by Stephen M. Sheppard. Reprinted 2002
ISBN 1-58477-239-5. Cloth. $595.

71. Fortescue, Sir John
DeLaudibus Legum Angliae. A Treatise in Commendation of the Laws of England.
With Translation by Francis Gregor. Notes by Andrew Amos and a
Life of the Author by Thomas (Fortescue) Lord Clermont.
Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1874
lxiv, 302 pp. Reprinted 1999
LCCN 99-16485. ISBN 1-58477-019-8. Cloth. $65.

72. Fortescue, Sir John
The Governance of England: Otherwise Called The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy.
A Revised Text edited with Introduction, Notes, and Appendices by Charles Plummer.
London: Oxford University Press, 1885
xxiii, 387pp. Reprinted 1999
ISBN 1-886363-79-X. Cloth. $70.

73. Foss, Edward
The Judges of England; with Sketches of Their Lives, and Miscellaneous Notices
Connected with the Courts of Westminster, from the Time of the Conquest.
London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1848-1864
Nine volumes. Reprinted 2003
ISBN 1-58477-304-9. Cloth. $895.
See item 234 in section Legal Biography & Personages for more information on this title.

74. Hale, Sir Matthew
Historia Placitorum Coronae. The History of the Pleas of the Crown. Now First Published from his Lordship’s Original Manuscript, and the Several References to the Records Examined by the Originals, with Large Notes.
By Sollem Emlyn of Lincoln’s Inn, Esq.
To which is added a Table of the Principle Matters.
[London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt and R. Gosling, 1736
Two volumes. Reprinted 2003
ISBN 1-58477-282-4
Cloth. $295.
*Reprint of the first edition. Widely acclaimed for its skillful, comprehensive and masterful discourse, this is the first history of English criminal law. Although Hale [1609-76] had planned to write this work in three books, only the first book was completed before his death. It covers the capital offenses - treasons and felonies. “This book, so far as it extends, gives a complete presentment of this branch of the law, both in its development and in its condition at Hale’s own time...Ever since its first publication it has been regarded as a book of the highest authority.” Holdsworth, Sources and Literature of English Law 152-153. See Winfield, The Chief Sources of English Legal History 327-8

75. Hale, Sir Matthew
The History and Analysis of the Common Law of England.
Stafford: J. Nutt, 1713.
[x], 264, [28], 176 pp. Reprinted 2000
LCCN 99-33739. ISBN 1-58477-024-4. Cloth. $85.

76. Holdsworth, Sir William
An Historical Introduction to the Land Law.
London: Oxford University Press, 1927
xxiv, 339 pp. Reprint available 2003
LCCN 2002025949. ISBN 1-58477-262-X
Cloth. $95.
* Sir William Holdsworth [1871-1944] was one of the most distinguished historians of English common law. He wrote this book to provide students of real property with a concise history of the field. This knowledge was necessary, he believed, because contemporary land law was difficult to understand without an understanding of its roots. Fortunately Holdsworth took on the task. Fifoot commends this book in his English Law and its Background for its history of the rules against perpetuities (121). The Law Quarterly Review noted that “every beginner will certainly have to read [this] book before he reads anything else” (44:105). Both sources cited in Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 773.

77. Hutchinson, John
A Catalogue of Notable Middle Templars, with Brief Biographical Notices.
[London]: The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, 1902
xiv, 284 pp. Reprint available 2003
LCCN 2002041361. ISBN 1-58477-323-5
Cloth. $80.
See item 242 in section Legal Biography & Personages for more information on this title.

78. James I.
The Political Works of James I.
Reprinted from the Edition of 1616. With an Introduction by Charles Howard McIlwain.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1918
cxi, 354 pp. Reprinted 2002
LCCN 2001053981. ISBN 1-58477-222-0. Cloth. $95.

79. Jenks, Edward
The Constitutional Experiments of the Commonwealth. A Study of the Years 1649-1660.
Cambridge: The University Press, 1890
iv, 154 pp. Reprinted 2002
LCCN 00-067823. ISBN 1-58477-141-0. Cloth. $80.

80. Kames, Henry Home, Lord
Historical Law-Tracts.
The Second Edition.
Edinburgh: A. Kincaid, 1761
xv, 463 pp. Reprinted 2000
LCCN 99-43133. ISBN 1-58477-038-4. Cloth. $95.

81. Lambard, William
Eirenarcha: Or, of the Office of the Justices of Peace in Two Bookes, Gathered 1579 and Now Revised and Firste Published in the 24. Yeare of the Peaceable Reigne of our Gratious Queene Elizabeth.
London: Newbery, 1581
[viii], 511, [xv] pp. Reprinted 2003
LCCN 2002025944. ISBN 1-58477-246-8
Cloth. $95.
* First published in 1581, this treatise is esteemed for its comprehensive and systematic account of the organization of local government under the justices of the peace at the end of the sixteenth century. It was the standard authority for several decades and often reprinted. Like many books of its kind, Eirenarcha offers a unique perspective on the society that produced it. This is evident in the descriptions of detailed indictments for such offenses as killing a man through witchcraft, raping a child or maid (the age of distinction was ten), hearing a Catholic Mass, practicing usary and operating a bowling alley. Lambard [1536-1601], a barrister and legal historian, was the keeper of records at the Rolls Chapel and the Tower of London.

82. [Macaulay, Thomas Babington]
A Penal Code Prepared by the Indian Law Commissioners, and published by
Command of the Governor General of India in Council.
London: Pelham Richardson, Cornhill, 1838
viii, 138 pp. Reprinted 2002
LCCN 99-16486. ISBN 1-58477-018-X. Cloth. $65.

83. Maitland, Frederick W. and Francis C. Montague
A Sketch of English Legal History.
Edited with Notes and Appendices by James F. Colby.
New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1915
x, 234 pp. Reprinted 1998
LCCN 98-11337. ISBN 1-886363-50-1. Cloth. $50.

84. Maitland, Frederick William
English Law and the Renaissance (The Rede Lecture for 1901) with Some Notes.
Cambridge: at the University Press, 1901
98 pp. Reprinted 2000
LCCN 99-41654. ISBN 1-58477-034-1. Cloth. $60.

85. Maitland, F[rederick] W[illiam]
The Constitutional History of England. A Course of Lectures Delivered.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908
xxviii, 547 pp. Reprinted 2001
LCCN 00-068895. ISBN 1-58477-148-8. Cloth. $95.

86. McKechnie, William Sharp
Magna Carta.
A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John.
With an Historical Introduction.
Second Edition, Revised and in part Re-written.
Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1914
xvii,530, [2] pp. Reprinted 2000
LCCN 99-38731. ISBN 1-58477-031-7. Cloth. $95.

87. Merriam, C.E., Jr.
History of the Theory of Sovereignty Since Rousseau.
New York: Columbia University Press, [1900]
x, [11]-233 pp. Reprinted 1999
LCCN 98-32385. ISBN 1-886363-76-5. Cloth. $65.

88. Nichols, Francis Morgan
Britton.
The French Text Carefully Revised with an English Translation, Introduction and Notes.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1865
Two volumes. Reprinted 2003
LCCN 2002024326. ISBN 1-58477-258-1
Cloth. $165.
* Probably originally compiled by John le Breton around 1290, it is the oldest English law book in French. Consisting of French text with parallel English translation and a glossary of French terms, this edition edited and translated by Nichols is considered to be the “standard edition.” Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law 154. Along with Fleta, Britton is one of two significant law books produced during the reign of Edward I [1272-1307]. The origins of Britton may be traced to a project of Edward I to produce a digest of the English law in the spirit of Justinian’s Institutes. Book One outlines the authority of justices and officers and defines the nature of various personal pleas (including pleas of the crown). Book Two describes disseisins and their remedies. Book Three treats intrusions and their remedies. Book Four describes pleas relating to advowsons and the property of churches (and of attaints). Book Five outlines pleas of dower and entry. Book Six defines different kinds of proprietary actions. In all, this treatise offers an incomparable overview of British law during the medieval era. See Holdsworth, A History of English Law II: 319-321.

89. Oakley, Thomas Pollack
English Penitential Discipline and Anglo-Saxon Law in Their Joint Influence.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1923
226 pp. Reprint available 2003
LCCN 2002042753. ISBN 1-58477-302-2
Cloth. $65.
* Penitentials are manuals for confessors that outline penances and their fines. They originated in the Celtic church and their use spread throughout the British Isles during the early middle ages. Though restricted to church discipline, they often influenced secular law. Beginning with a history and discussion of the penitentials, Oakley examines the legal traditions that influenced their development and their reciprocal influence on the development of the common law.
Originally published as Volume CVII, Number 2 in Columbia’s series, Studies in History, Economics and Public Law.

90. Parnell, Henry
A History of the Penal Laws Against the Irish Catholics,
from the Treaty of Limerick to the Union.
Dublin: Printed by H. Fitzpatrick, 1808
226, xxii pp. Reprint available 2003
LCCN 2002044357. ISBN 1-58477-313-8
Cloth $80.
* Reprint of first edition. Sir Henry Parnell [1776-1842], later Lord Congleton, was an Anglo-Irish parliamentarian and treasury official sympathetic to the plight of Irish Catholics. Enhanced by its extensive quotation of source records, this book traces the history of laws against “religious non-conformists” between 1689 and 1801. Though certainly partisan, it is valuable for Parnell’s perspective and first-hand knowledge of several crucial events of the 1780s and `90s.

91. Perry, Ross R.
Common-law Pleading.
Its History and Principles. Including Dicey’s Rules Concerning Parties to Action and Stephen’s Rules of Pleading.
Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1897
xxvi, 494 pp. Reprinted 2001
ISBN 1-58477-105-4. Cloth. $95.

92. Plucknett, Theodore F.T.
A Concise History of the Common Law.
Fifth Edition.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1956
Reprinted 2001
LCCN 00-067821. ISBN 1-58477-137-2. Cloth. $125.

93. Pollock, Frederick and Frederic William Maitland
The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898
Two volumes. Reprinted 1996
LCCN 96-16003. ISBN 1-886363-22-6. Cloth. $250.

93a. Powell, Chilton Latham
English Domestic Relations 1487-1653.
A Study of Matrimony and Family Life in Theory and Practice as Revealed by the Literature, Law, and History of the Period.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1917
xii, 274 pp. Reprinted 2001
ISBN 1-58477-096-1. Cloth. $75.

94. Stock, Leo Francis
Proceedings and Debates of the British Parliaments Respecting North America.
Washington, D.C.: The Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1924
Five volumes. Reprinted 2003
LCCN 2002025966. ISBN 1-58477-254-9
Cloth. $495.
* This set collects all references to North America in the proceedings and debates of the parliaments of England, Scotland and Ireland recorded between 1542 and 1754. The “proceedings” are taken from the officially published Journals; the “debates” are taken from several sources, such as the transcripts of Parliamentary sessions published in the Gentlemen’s Magazine. The scope of the work is not confined to North America. It includes all items relating directly or by implication to Canada, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, the Philippines and Africa. It also includes items relating to the navigation acts, the Royal African Company and the Asientos, and all that concerns enactments, repeals or alterations of duties and other acts concerning tobacco, sugar, coffee, furs, indigo, whale products and other colonial products. A useful source for the admiralty, maritime or commercial law historian.

95. Thomson, Richard
An Historical Essay on the Magna Charta of King John.
To which are added, the Great Charter in Latin and English, the charters of liberties and confirmations,
granted by Henry III and Edward I, the original Charter of the forests, and various authentic instruments
connected with them:
Explanatory Notes on their Several Privileges;
A Descriptive Account of the Principal Originals and Editions Extant, Both in Print and Manuscript;
and Other Illustrations, Derived from the Most Interesting and Authentic Sources.
London: John Major and Robert Jennings, 1829
xxxii, 612 pp. Reprinted 2000
LCCN 99-40987. ISBN 1-58477-030-9. Cloth. $95.

96. [Thorpe, B., editor]
Ancient Laws and Institutes of England; Comprising Laws Enacted under the Anglo-Saxon Kings from Æthelbirtht to Cnut, With an English Translation of the Saxon; The Laws called Edward the Confessor’s; The Laws of William the Conqueror, and those Ascribef to Henry the First: Also, Monumenta Ecclesiastica Anglicana, From the Seventh to the Tenth Century; and the Ancient Latin Version of the Anglo-Saxon Laws. With a Compendious Glossary, &c.
[London: Printed by George E. Eyre and Andrew Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, 1840] x, [iv], 548, [79] pp. (9" X 12").
Reprint available February 2004
LCCN 2002024242. ISBN 1-58477-264-6
Cloth. $195.
* A critical edition of laws issued before 1066 based on original manuscript sources, with most in their original languages. With thorough notes, extensive commentary, a concordance of sources, an index to the Anglo-Saxon laws and an index to the Monumenta Ecclesiastica. Benjamin Thorpe [1782-1870] was a well-known Anglo-Saxon scholar and translator who published a number of principal works in this field, including the important Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. This edition remains a standard source for scholars of this period. Dictionary of National Biography XIX: 795-796.

97. Thorpe, W.[illiam] G.[eorge]
Middle Temple Table Talk.
With Some Talk about the Table Itself.
London: Hutchinson & Co., 1894
xxiv, 376 pp. Reprint available 2003
ISBN 1-58477-341-3. Cloth $80.
* Reprint of first edition. Thorpe [d.1902], a barrister and literary historian, was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1875. His book is a delightful miscellany of Middle Temple anecdotes, discussions of its official and unofficial customs, legal lore, literary history and other topics discussed socially among Templars. Interesting in itself, this book is equally valuable as a document of the Middle Temple’s institutional character at the turn of the century.

98. Willis, John
The Parliamentary Powers of English Government Departments.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1933
214 pp. Reprinted 2003
LCCN 2002025940. ISBN 1-58477-271-9
Cloth. $95.
* A thorough study of issues relating to legislation enacted by persons or bodies to whom Parliament has delegated specific powers. “This is the best book that has yet been published on delegated legislation in England. It has learning, it is well written, and it possesses what is still rare in books of law-a graceful power of wit.” Harold Laski, Harvard Law Review 47:1452-1453 cited in Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 263. Originally published as Volume IV in the Harvard Studies in Administrative Law series.

Top | Next Section