The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I - Volumes I and II - - Hardcover

Sir Frederick Pollock; Frederic William Maitland

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521070627 ISBN 13: 9780521070621

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1968

Synopsis

specific precedents (exempla) may have been alleged in court 1; in Edward I.'s day the pleaders are already citing and 'distinguishing' previous cases 3; but as a general rule the judges, [p. 163] assisted by clerks, who were on their way to become judges, would regard themselves as having an implicit knowledge of the consuetudo curiae and would not feel bound to argue about past cases. The justices of the bench would often be fully justified in behaving thus; many of them were experienced men who had worked their way upwards through all the ranks of the king's court and chancery. And so even the knights who were employed to take assizes in their shires, though they had read no law, would believe that they knew the law and custom applicable to the cases that came before them. Every man who does his duty knows a great deal of law and custom: the difficulty is to persuade him that he does not know everything2. The custom of the king's court is the custom of England, and becomes the common law. As to local customs, the king's justices will in general phrases express their respect for them4. We see no signs of any consciously conceived desire to root them out5. None the less, if they are not being destroyed, their further growth is checked. Especially in all matters of procedure, the king's court, which is now obtaining a thorough control over all other courts, is apt to treat its own as the only just rules2. A heavy burden of proof is cast upon those 1 Note Book, pi. 1213: the Earl of Chester appeals to cases concerning other palatine earls. Ibid. pi. 1227: in the exceedingly important case raising the qnestion whether a palatinate can be partitioned, the magnates reject foreign precedents; 'nec voluerunt iudicare per exempla usitata in partibua transmarinis.' In 1291 the Earl of Glouces...

About this title

Book Description:

Although this book was envisaged as a joint venture and bears the name of both Pollock and Maitland, it is substantially the work of Maitland. It was recognised at once as a masterpiece and has since been accepted as one of the great histories in the English language.

About the Author:

Sir Frederick Pollock [1845-1937] was an English jurist best known for this work as well as his extensive correspondence with US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, which was published posthumously as The Holmes-Pollock Letters. His treatises on contracts, jurisprudence the common law and other subjects did much to clarify and systematize English law. Several of these were standard texts that went through several editions. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and admitted to the Bar in 1871. He taught at the University of Oxford from 1883-1903.

Widely considered the father of legal history, Frederic William Maitland [1850-1906] was an English jurist and historian best known for this standard work. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and studied at Lincoln's Inn, London. Maitland was called to the bar in 1876, and practiced until 1884 when he became a reader in English law (1884) and professor (1888) at Cambridge. He founded the Selden Society in 1887. Hailed for his original outlook on history, his works profoundly influenced legal scholarship. An extraordinarily productive career was shortened by his death from pneumonia at the age of 56.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1968
• ISBN 10: 0521070627
• ISBN 13: 9780521070621
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 1379