The main theme of Professor Plucknett's Wiles Lectures is the transition from the local legislation of Anglo-Saxon times to the beginnings of the English common law under feudalism, and especially under Edward I's direction. Professor Plucknett examines the early laws, which were mainly the attempts of perplexed men in a harsh age to fix a value on human life and property, and to enforce the exaction of these monetary penalties: wer and bot and wite. He then shows how the common law under Edward I became more technical, more concerned with principles, and of course more universal and better...
The main theme of Professor Plucknett's Wiles Lectures is the transition from the local legislation of Anglo-Saxon times to the beginnings of the Engl...
The six chapters of this book were originally delivered as lectures at the University of Cambridge. They were commissioned in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Frederic William Maitland (1850 1906). With the exception of the first chapter, the lectures in this volume were printed for the first time in 1958 with the help of the Selden Society. It is this edition which is reproduced here. In his preface, T. F. T. Plucknett observes that the theme of his lectures was 'to learn from Maitland's writings, not merely the results he acquired but the method and inspiration of...
The six chapters of this book were originally delivered as lectures at the University of Cambridge. They were commissioned in commemoration of the hun...
