The Needs Of A King

For all of you English Law fans, here’s Bracton Online Bracton: De Legibus Et Consuetudinibus Angliæ -Bracton on the Laws and Customs of England attributed to Henry of Bratton, c. 1210-1268. Thanks to the good folks at the Harvard Law School Library (HLSL,) you can read Henry Bracton’s treaty on 13th century English law in English and Latin. Personally, old English law was one of my favorite sub-interests of English history when I was in college. And these interests have not really changed. I never had access to this particular document, so I am particularly excited by this find. HLSL has an actual, original manuscript of this treaty attributed to Bracton (but written by many others including Bracton). Click on the link above to view the manuscript. Here’s a tidbit of info about the manuscript itself from HLSL:

The outstanding common-law treatise of the Middle Ages, Bracton’s De legibus is remarkable for its use of actual court decisions for illustrative purposes. It appears to have been written by a number of authors in the 1250’s, with the last work being done on it by Henry de Bracton when he was a judge of the King’s Bench.

–from Harvard Law School Library, Bracton Online

Additional information describes the project’s history. Historians mentioned on the site include Professor Samuel E. Thorne and F.W. Maitland. To access the document itself, click on the link Search Bracton Online.

This Link Cataloged
Bracton Online Bracton: De Legibus Et Consuetudinibus Angliæ -Bracton on the Laws and Customs of England attributed to Henry of Bratton, c. 1210-1268 is cataloged on the Research Tools page of the Reading Room.