Henry de Bracton

De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae, Libri Quinque Henry de Bracton Latin, Reprint of Second edition

With a new introduction by David J. Seipp Professor of Law | Boston Univ.

Originally published: London: Typis Milonis Flesher & Roberti Young, 1640. [xxx], 444 [i.e. 442] folios. Reprint of the second edition, which was a reissue of the first edition (1569). De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae [The Laws and Customs of England] is the first treatise on English law. A systematic work, it emphasizes the separation of procedural and substantive matters and also cites cases as sources of at least intellectual, if not formal, authority. In Maitland's words, Bracton's Legibus is "the crown and flower of English medieval jurisprudence" and "by far the greatest of our medieval law books." Sweet & Maxwell add that it "is distinguished by rich casuistic details, and by the careful reproduction of the judicial decisions on individual cases of law.": Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth 1:51(6). The pagination of the 1569 and 1640 issues is identical. Maitland, Collected Works II:43. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth 1:51 (6).