Some Makers of English Law

319 Pages·1966·10.708 MB·English

by  William Holdsworth

SOME MAKERS OF
ENGLISH LAW

SOME MAKERS OF
ENGLISH LAW
THE TAGORE LECTURES
*937-38
by
SIR WILLIAM HOLDSWORTH,
K.C., D.C.L., Hon. LL.D., F.B.A.
Vinerian Professor in English Law and Fellow of
All Souls College in the University of Oxford
Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1966
K'053£. Ht>'5 /?<£&
PUBLISHED BY THE SYNDICS OF THE
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London, N.W.i.
American Branch: 32 East 57th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022
First printed 1938
Reissued 1966
First paperback edition 1966
First printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge
Reprinted by photolithography in Great Britain by
Hazell Watson and Viney Ltd
Aylesbury, Bucks
CONTENTS
Preface page vij
List of Cases ix
List of Statutes x
Introduction
i
Lecture I. Glanvil and Bracton 8
II. Edward I
25
III. Littleton and Fortescue 46
IV. Renaissance, Reformation, and
Reception of Roman Law 69
V. St Germain, More, Ellesmere,
and Bacon
91
VI. Sir Edward Coke 111
VII. Hale and Nottingham i33
VIII. Holt and Mansfield
I5I
IX. Hardwicke and Eldon 176
X. Leoline Jenkins, Stowell, and the
Civilians 211
XI. Blackstone, Bentham, and Austin 238
XII. Maine, Maitland, and Pollock 265
Conclusion 291
Index 299
\3l65
n
PREFACE
f>—j-j—<\hese lectures were given by me as Tagore
Professor in Calcutta University in December
1937 and January 1938. My two objects are,
first to give some account of the most important of the
men whose work entitles them to be reckoned amongst
the Makers of English Law, and, secondly, so to connect
their biographies with the general history of the law that
the book will be a short biographical history of English
law. I hope that it will be a useful companion to
books on the history of legal institutions and on the
history of the sources and literature of the law. Most of
the information is to be found at greater length in my
History of English Law, and in articles of mine in the
Law Quarterly Review and the Cambridge Law Journal\
but I think that its statement in a new form, which is
shorter and simpler, will be useful to the student.
I must thank my son, Mr R. W. G. Holdsworth,
Stowell Fellow of University College, Oxford, for
criticism and for his help in correcting the proof sheets.
W. H.
ALL SOULS COLLEGE
August 1938

LIST OF CASES
Ackroyd <v. Smithson, 192, 198 Garland, ex parte, 199
Aldrich <v. Cooper, 199 Gee <v. Pritchard, 200
Ashby v. White, 156 Good title d. Jones •v. Jones, 204
Atkins <v. Hill, 173 Gratitudine, the, 229
Bainbridge <v. Postmaster-General, Hallett’s Estate, in re, 199
155 Harmony, the, 229
Bankers’ Case, the, 155 Harvey a>. Aston, 182
Bauerman <v. Radenius, 204 Hastelow cv. Jackson, 174
Beecher’s Case, 122 Hawkes n>. Sanders, 173
Bernon, the, 228 Howards. Duke of Norfolk, 147,148
Betsey, the, 228 Howe <v. Earl of Dartmouth, 199
Blackamore’s Case, 122
Blad <v. Bamfield, 147 Indian Chief, the, 231
Blankard Galdy, 158
Blenden Hall, the, 229 James ev. Greaves, 178
Bosanquet <v. Dashwood, 174 Jonge Margaretha, the, 228
Bradlaugh <v. Gosset, 156
Brice cv. Stokes, 199 Lancashire Loans <v. Black, 183
Burgess cv. Wheate, 173, 202 Lane cv. Cotton, 155
Le Louis, the, 228
Campbell <v. Hall, 158 Leslie <t>. Sheill, 178
Casborne <v. Scarfe, 188 Lickbarrow v. Mason, 168, 174, 221
Chamberlain <v. Harvey, 156 Lindo <l>. Rodney, 227
Chesterfield *v. Janssen, 183
Clarke <v. Palmer, 203 Manners <v. Banning, 178
Coggs •v. Bernard, 23, 159 Maria, the (1805), 228
Cook <v. Fountain, 147, 149 Maria, the (1809), 229
Corbett v. Poelnitz, 167 Marlborough, Duke of, <v. Lord
Godolphin, 188
Dalrymple <v. Dalrymple, 230 Marshall <v. Rutton, 204
Dumpor’s Case, 195 Murray =v. Lord Elibank, 199
Eaton <v. Jaques, 173 Nurse <v. Yerworth, 146, 148
Ellison v. Ellison, 199
Entick <v. Carrington, 157 O’Grady <v. Wilmot, 293
Evans <v. Bicknell, 204 Omychund v. Barker, 166, 169
Oxford’s (Earl of) Case, 177
Felicity, the, 229
Foster’s Case, 120 Parfitt <v. Lawless, 178
Fox, the, 228, 230 Pasley ai. Freeman, 204
X LIST OF CASES AND STATUTES
Paty’s Case, 156 Sheriff of Middlesex’s Case, 156
Perrin *v. Blake, 167, 242 Shermoulin i>. Sands, 130
Pillans v. Van Mierop, 172, 174 Sinclair <v. Brougham, 175
Proclamations, the case of, 122 Slave Grace, the, 229
Prowse <v. Abingdon, 183 Smith Bromley, 174
Smith cu. Browne, 156
Recovery, the, 228 Smith <v. Gould, 156
Reniger <v. Fogossa, 292 Snee cv. Prescott, 168
R. v. Archbishop of Canterbury, 214 Sommersett’s Case, 156
R. <v. Cranburne, 158 Stockdale <v. Hansard, 156
R. <v. Kendal and Row, 157
R. v. Knollys, 156 Taylor <v. Horde, 167, 172
R. <v. Millis, 230 Tucker cv. Tucker, 204
R. <v. Toler, 160 Tulk <v. Moxhay, 199
R. v. Tutchin, 157
R. cu. Wilkes, 166 Wait, in re, 210
Ruscombe v. Hare, 187 Ward <v. Lant, 174
Weakly <v. Bucknell, 173
Salsbury nj. Bagott, 147 White *v. Baugh, 193
Scott v. Shepherd, 242 Whitfield <v. Lord le Despencer, 155
Serjeants’, the case of the, 34 Wykham <v. Wykham, 203
Seven Bishops, the case of the, 152
Shelley’s Case, 167, 174 Zamora, the, 219, 228, 230
LIST OF STATUTES
Magna Carta (1215), 15-16 13 Edw. I (De Mercatoribus), 29
13 Edw. I (Stat. of Winchester), 29
20 Henry III, c. 10 (Statute of 13 Edw. I (Circumspecte Agatis),
Merton), 36
3i
13 Edw. I (City of London), 31
3 Edw. I (Stat. West. I), 28 18 Edw. I, St. r (Quia Emptores),
4 Edw. I, St. 2 (Coroners), 30 29, 40
4 Edw. I, St. 3 (Rageman), 30 18 Edw. I, Sts. 2 and 3 (Stats, of
6 Edw. I, c. 5 (Stat. of Gloucester), Gloucester), 30
29 20 Edw. I, St. 2 (Waste), 31
7 Edw. I (De Viris Religiosis), 29 21 Edw. I, St. 1 (Trespassers in
10 Edw. I (the Exchequer), 31 parks), 31
10 Edw. I (De Mercatoribus), 29 23 Edw. I (Prison breach), 31
12 Edw. I (Wales), 28-29 25 Edw. I, c. 1 (Confirmatio Car-
13 Edw. I (Stat. West. II), 28, 40 tarum), 30
LIST OF STATUTES XI
27 Edw. I, St. 1 (Levying of fines), 4, 5 Anne, c. 16, § 13 (Relief against
3i penalties), 201
27 Edw. I, St. 3 (False money), 31
28 Edw. I, c. 1 (Articuli super 4 Geo. II, c. 28, §§ 3 and 4 (Relief
Cartas), 30 against forfeiture), 201
28 Edw. I, St. 3, c. 10 (Conspiracy), 7 Geo. II, c. 20 (Mortgages), 201
30 10 Geo. II, c. 56 (Privilege of Par¬
28 Edw. I, St. 3, c. 11 (Maintenance), liament), 165
34 18 Geo. II, c. 60 (Roman Catholics),
33 Edw. I (Forests), 31 165
34 Edw. I (Joint Tenants), 31 20 Geo. II, cc. 43 and 50 (Highlands
35 Edw. I (Statute of Carlisle), 30 of Scotland), 165, 180
26 Geo. II, c. 33 (Marriages), 165,
16 Rich. II, c. 5 (Praemunire), 30 180
24 Henry VIII, c. 12 (Statute of 23 Geo. Ill, c. xxx (Doctors’
Appeals), 77, 80 Commons), 213
27 Henry VIII, c. 10 (Statute of 53 Geo. Ill, c. 127 (Writ de
Uses), 108, 292 Excommunicato Capiendo), 222
16 Chas. I, c. 10 (Starchamber and 3, 4 Will. IV, c. 74 (Fines and
Council), 212 Recoveries), 267
16 Chas. I, c. 11 (Ecclesiastical
Courts), 212 8, 9 Viet., c. 106, § 4 (Tortious
Feoffments), 174
12 Chas. II, c. 24 (Statute of 17, 18 Viet., c. 125, § 83 (Common
Tenures), 133 Law Procedure), 205
13 Chas. II, St. 1, c. 12 (Eccle¬ 20, 21 Viet., c. 77, §§ 116, 117
siastical Courts), 213 (Doctors’ Commons), 236
22, 23 Chas. II, c. 10 (Statute of 36, 37 Viet., c. 66, § 25 (Judicature
Distribution), 221 Act), 208
29 Chas. II, c. 3 (Statute of Frauds), 53, 54 Viet., c. 39 (Partnership Act),
221 289
12, 13 Will. Ill, c. 2 (Act of Settle¬ 15 Geo. V, c. 20, § 131 (Law of
ment), 152 Property Act), 174