The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I (2-Volumes) - by Sir Frederick Pollock & Frederic William Maitland (Hardcover)

About the Book

Originally published: 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898.

Book Synopsis

First published in 1895, Sir Frederick Pollock and Frederic William Maitland's legal classic The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I expanded the work of Sir Edward Coke and William Blackstone by exploring the origins of key aspects of English common law and society and with them the development of individual rights as these were gradually carved out from the authority of the Crown and the Church. Although it has been more than a century since its initial publication, Pollock and Maitland's work is still considered an accessible and useful foundational reference for scholars of medieval English law.

Volume one begins with an examination of Anglo-Saxon law, goes on to consider the changes in law introduced by the Normans, then moves to the twelfth-century "Age of Glanvill," with the first great compilation of English laws and customs, followed by the thirteenth-century "Age of Bracton," author of another major treatise on the same subject. Volume two takes up different areas of English law topic by topic, or as its authors labeled it, "The Doctrines of English Law in the Early Middle Ages." They consider land tenure, marriage and wardship, fealty, the ranks of men both free and unfree, aliens, Jews, excommunicates, women, and the churches and the King, before turning to the various jurisdictions of that decentralized era.

The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I helps readers explore the origins of English legal exceptionalism and through the English tradition the basis of the law of America, Canada, Australia, and other nations. This work is of interest to legal scholars, historians of the Middle Ages, political scientists, political philosophers, and all those interested in Anglo-Saxon law and early law and society.

Review Quotes

Reference & Research Book News
November 2010

To generations of medievalists, Pollock and Maitland has served as the Bible for the development of English Common law. This two-volume edition reprints the 1898 one, adding a bibliography from the 1968 reissue. Despite its age, there is no other work that covers the topic so completely. The authors begin with legal codes, Roman, German, and Anglo-Saxon, that influenced English justice. They then move to Anglo-Saxon and Norman law and their blending under the Norman kings. They also describe the influence of and disputes with canon law. The next two sections focus on the legal reforms of Henry II and his grandson, Henry III and the codification of the laws. Book II looks at the laws by subject. Land ownership and duties owed take up a large part of this section. The services owed are both military and labor in fields and construction. Laws considering social status from unfree serfs to small farmers to earls and barons are listed. Laws affecting clerics, foreigners, Jews, outlaws, excommunicants, lepers and women follow. Church property was difficult under law since religious institutions were often under the jurisdiction of a mother-house in another place or even the pope. The final section examines areas of legal jurisdiction and how justice was administered at each level. Violent crimes are incorporated into the other topics. Since the source of modern Anglo-American law is in the creation of medieval law, historians and attorneys still consult this work.