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"Henry of Bratton (Henricus de Brattona or Bractona c. 1210-1268) was an English judge of the court known as coram rege (later King's bench) from 1247-1250 and again from 1253-1257. After his retirement in 1257, he continued to serve on judicial commissions. He was also a clergyman, having various benefices, the last of which being the chancellorship of Exeter Cathedral, where we was buried in 1268."
Quoted from Bracton Online.
(image to the left shows the 1569 title page.)
Bracton's treatise, written during the reign of King Henry III, appeared during a stage of development when the common law had emerged from the chaos of local customs and fixed forever the principles of common law. He begins his treatise by remarking that "whereas in almost all countries, they use laws and written right, England alone uses within her boundaries unwritten right and custom." Bracton set himself the task of remedying this defect by systematizing and codifying the common law of England. In his own words, he "reduced it into one summary, under titles and paragraphs, to be commended to perpetual memory by the aid of writing." Although bearing almost the same title as Glanvil's work, Bracton's treatise is not a mere text book on practice, but an exposition of the law itself -- the first of its kind in England."
Bracton's aim is first of all practical. The subject matter of his treatise are "the facts and cases which daily emerge and happen in the realm of England, that it may be known what is the proper form of action and what is the proper form of writ." But beyond this there is a moral aim, "that bad men may be rendered good and good men better as well by the dread of penalties as by the encouragement of reward." Lofty in his estimation of the office of the judge: "Let not one who is unwise and unlearned ascend the judgment seat, which is the throne of God, lest he change into the light of darkness, and lest, like a madman with a sword in his untutored hand, he slay the innocent and set free the guilty."
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Described by Frederic Maitland as "the crown and flower of Medieval jurisprudence," Bracton's treatise was long accepted as the standard exposition of English law. No judicial writer rivaled Bracton until Blackstone arose five centuries later.
(image on the right shows outside cover of Bracton.)
Our copy of De Legibus Consuetudinibus Angliae is a first edition printed in 1569 by Richard Tottel in London. The 1554 first edition of Glanvil's treatise and the 1576 edition of the Magna Carta in our collection were also printed by Tottel. The book is bound in vellum, which is made of raw, untreated animal skin dried under tension to form a hard surface. Our copy is in fine condition, yet the spine is beginning to crack. Fortunately, the title page of this rare and important book has been photographed and displayed here. Our copy also has many contemporary notations including a 1589 signature of a former owner of the book, Eduardo Combs.