BRACTON

Bracton. The common title of one of the earliest books of English law, De Legibus et

Consuetudinibus Angliae (ca. 1250). • Henry of Bratton (also known as Bracton), a judge of the Court of King’s Bench and of Assize, is credited with writing the work, though he may have merely revised an earlier version.

“Bracton’s book is the crown and flower of English medieval jurisprudence…. Romanesque in form, English in substance — this perhaps is the best brief phrase that we can find for the outcome of his labours; but yet it is not very good. He had at his command and had diligently studied … various parts of the Corpus Iuris Civilis, of the Decretum, and the Decretals, and he levied contributions from the canonist Tancred…. Bracton’s debt — and therefore our debt — to the civilians is inestimably great. But for them, his book would have been impossible; but for them … we should have missed not only the splendid plan, the orderly arrangement, the keen

dilemmas, but also the sacerdotal spirit of the work. On the other hand, the main matter of his treatise is genuine English law laboriously collected out of the plea rolls of the king’s court…. [H]is endeavor is to state the practice, the best and most approved practice, of the king’s court, and of any desire to romanize the law we must absolutely acquit him.” 1 Frederick Pollock & Frederic W. Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I 206–09 (2d ed. 1898).[Blacks Law 8th]