The Germs and Developments of the Laws of England: Embracing the...
The Roots of Liberty: Stearns' 1889 Study on Anglo-Saxon and Early English Law Stearns, John M. The Germs and Developments of the Laws of England: Embracing the Anglo-Saxon Laws Extant: From the Sixth Century to A.D., 1066: as Translated into English Under the Royal Record Commission of William IV.: with the Introduction of the Common Law by Norman Judges After the Conquest, and its Earliest Proferts in Magna Charta. Originally published: New York: Banks, 1889. 370 pp. Reprint The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2007. ISBN-13: 9781584777328. Smyth sewn blue cloth with gilt stamped spine and front cover. Hardcover. New. $49.95 * Reprint of the sole and scarce 1889 edition. Stearns traces the foundational roots of English jurisprudence, providing invaluable English translations of early legal texts. The volume contains translations of the landmark Laws of Edward the Confessor and Magna Carta, rendering pre-Conquest and early medieval statutes accessible to modern scholars. This work is highly significant for compiling and popularizing the translations generated by the Royal Record Commission of William IV, which unlocked ancient Saxon laws that were previously inaccessible to standard practitioners and historians. By pairing these texts with Norman developments, Stearns highlights the crucial nineteenth-century historical thesis that the common law was an evolution that absorbed ancient Saxon customs rather than an entirely Norman imposition. This continuity argument was vital to how Victorian-era lawyers justified the ancient rights and liberties found in Anglo-American law. Features a highly useful "Glossary of Words and Terms Found in the Saxon Laws" on pages 369-370.
Price: $49.95
Book number 43967