The Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Realm of England Commonly Called Glanvill

Out of Print

The Treatise on the Laws and Customs of England commonly called Glanvill is an account in Latin of the law and practice of the royal court at the end of the reign of Henry II.

The authorship is uncertain, but the Treatise must have been written by a man closely connected with the work of the court, and he may have had some academic training in civil and canon law. The Treatise is mainly concerned with civil pleas begun by writ and using the procedures of inquest and assise.

As litigation begun by writ is a fundamental characteristic of the common law, Glanvill can fairly be called the first text-book on the subject. Its merit lies partly in the clarity of exposition, but much more in the author's willingness to depart from his basic plan-a commentary on individual writs-in favour of a courageous attempt to expound the law in substantive terms.

There are about forty extant manuscripts of the Treatise. This edition presents a new text, based on a Lincoln's Inn manuscript, with a translation. The introduction discusses the background, the plan of the Treatise and its execution, the value of the work, date, authorship and sources, the development of the text and the later history of the Treatise.

The text is fully annotated and there are also longer additional notes which serve as an introduction to major topics in the Treatise.