The History and Analysis of the Common Law of England

Published anonymously this highly respected work was the first history of the common law. Originally published: [London]: Printed by J. Nutt 1713. [iii] 264 [12]; [xvi] 171 pp. Reprint of the first edition. Two parts each with title page and individual pagination: The History of the Common Law of England: Divided into Twelve Chapters; The Analysis of the Law: Being a Scheme Or Abstract Of the Several Titles and Partitions of the Law of England Digested into Method. A series of chronological essays drawn from Hales manuscripts it give[s] us a clear statement of the history of some of the important external features of the common law...Sketch as it is his history is living history because its author had a clear view of its whole course (Holdsworth Sources and Literature of English Law 151-152). Sir Matthew Hale [1609-1676] was a Judge of the Common Pleas well-known for his History of the Pleas of the Crown.