Shaping the Common Law: From Glanvill to Hale, 1188-1688

by Thomas Garden Barnes, Allen D. Boyer (Editor)

Overview

In a series of fifteen vivid essays, this book discusses the contributions of great common-law jurists and singular documents—namely the Magna Carta and the Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts—that have shaped common law, from its origins in twelfth-century England to its arrival in the American colonies.

Featured jurists include such widely recognized figures as Glanvill, Francis Bacon, Sir Edward Coke, and John Selden, as well as less known but influential writers like Richard Hooker, Michael Dalton, William Hudson, and Sir Matthew Hale. Across the essays, the jurists' personalities are given voice, the context of time and events made clear, and the continuing impact of the texts emphasized. Taken as a whole, the book offers a simple reverence for the achievements of these men and law books and a deep respect for the role historical events have played in the development of the common law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804757140
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	07/09/2008
Series:	Jurists: Profiles in Legal Theory
Edition description:	1
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Thomas Garden Barnes is Professor Emeritus of History and Law at University of California, Berkeley. He is the editor of the Legal Classics Library for the Gryphon Press. Allen D. Boyer, a lawyer in New York City, serves on the advisory board of the Yale Center for Parliamentary History and is the author of Sir Edward Coke and the Elizabethan Age (Stanford, 20

Table of Contents

Author's Preface     ix
Introduction   Allen D. Boyer     1
Glanvill     11
Magna Carta     23
Thomas Littleton     32
John Fortescue     46
Richard Hooker     61
James VI and I     79
Francis Bacon     98
Sir Edward Coke     114
Michael Dalton     136
William Hudson     152
John Selden     167
John Milton     177
The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts     195
Trial of Charles I     205
Matthew Hale     221
Notes     239
Further Reading     261
Index     273

Editorial Reviews

"This illuminating collection is the product of a career spent working with the texts and presenting them in the classroom, with positive results. It is consistently informative, well-written, and entertaining." —Richard H. Helmholtz, University of Chicago Law School

"These elegant essays explore the role of legal literature in the development of common law. Clearly written and easily intelligible, they are a very good read." —A.W. Brian Simpson, University of Michigan Law School

"A delightful, eloquent, and deeply learned tour of the great writers and books of English legal history! Essential reading for Americanists for whom Glanvill, Littleton, Coke, Dalton, Hale, and Magna Carta are much referenced but often less than well understood." —Mary Sarah Bilder, Boston College

From the Publisher

"A delightful, eloquent, and deeply learned tour of the great writers and books of English legal history! Essential reading for Americanists for whom Glanvill, Littleton, Coke, Dalton, Hale, and Magna Carta are much referenced but often less than well understood."

Boston College - Mary Sarah Bilder

"These elegant essays explore the role of legal literature in the development of common law. Clearly written and easily intelligible, they are a very good read."

Universityof Michigan Law School - A.W. Brian Simpson