Henry de Bracton - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Henry of Bracton, also Henry de Bracton, also Henrici Bracton, or Henry Bratton also Henry Bretton (ca. 1210–68) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

.

He is famous now for his writings on Law, particularly De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae (On the Laws and Customs of England), and his ideas on mens rea

Mens rea

Mens rea is Latin for "guilty mind". In criminal law, it is viewed as one of the necessary elements of a crime. The standard common law test of criminal liability is usually expressed in the Latin phrase, actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, which means "the act does not make a person guilty...

, or criminal intent. According to Bracton, it was only through the examination of a combination of action and intention that the commission of a criminal act could be established.

He also wrote on kingship

Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

, arguing that a ruler should only be called 'king', if he obtained and exercised power in a lawful manner.

In his writings Bracton manages coherently to set out the law of the royal courts through his use of categories drawn from Roman law

Roman law

Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...

, thus incorporating into English Law several developments of Medieval Roman Law

Medieval Roman law

Medieval Roman law is the continuation and development of ancient Roman law that developed in the European Late Middle Ages. Based on the ancient text of Roman law, the Corpus iuris civilis, it added many new concepts, and formed the basis of the later civil law systems that prevail in most...

Life of Bracton

Plucknett describes Bracton in this way: "Two generations after Ranulf de Glanvill we come to the flower and crown of English jurisprudence - Bracton." Bracton was born around 1210 in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

and had a great deal of preferment in the Church. He either derived from Bratton Fleming

Bratton Fleming

Bratton Fleming is a large village near Barnstaple, in Devon, England. The population in 2001 was 942.The village runs along one street which climbs steadily up the foothills of Exmoor. The Flemings had their seat at Chimwell, now a farmhouse called Chumhill, which Risdon said was "one of the...

or Bratton Clovelly

Bratton Clovelly

Bratton Clovelly is a village in west Devon, England.The church is 15th century, but with many attractive Norman features. The village stocks are kept in the belfry....

. Both villages are in Devon

Devon

. It was only after his death that the family name appears as Bracton; during his life, he was known as Bratton, or Bretton. This originally may have been Bradton, meaning "Broad Town". Bracton first appeared as a justice in 1245. From 1248 until his death in 1268 he was steadily employed as a justice of the assize in the southwestern counties, especially Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, Devon

Devon

and Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

. He was a member of the coram rege, also called the coram ipso rege, later to become the King's Court. He retired from this in 1257, shortly before the meeting of the Mad Parliament in 1258 at Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

. It is unknown whether his retirement was related to politics. His leaving coincided with the onset of the notorious Second Barons' War

Second Barons' War

The Second Barons' War was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort, against the Royalist forces led by Prince Edward , in the name of Henry III.-Causes:...

in 1264. At that time Bracton was ordered to restore to the Treasury the large store of plea rolls (case records from previous trials) that had been in his possession. He was also forced to surrender the large number of rolls from his predecessors Martin Pateshull and William Raleigh, also known as William de Raley

William de Raley

William de Raley was a medieval judge, administrator and bishop.-Life:In 1212 Raley was presented with the church of Bratton Fleming, with his occupation being described as "clerk". He is known to have served as a clerk of the bench in 1214, and again from 1219 to 1229...

. It cannot be determined whether he disgraced the King or the barons in this affair, but it is speculated that some kind of political intrigue was involved. The practical result was that his major work, De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae ("The Laws and Customs of England"), was left unfinished. Even so, it exists in four large volumes today. He continued to follow the assizes in the southwest until 1267. In the last year of his life he filled another prominent role, as member of a commission of prelates, magnates and justices appointed to hear the complaints of the "disinherited" - those who had sided with Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...

.

Bracton apparently had access to the highest stations of Church and State. He was an ecclesiastic. In 1259 he became the rector of the Devonshire parish of Combe-in-Teignhead and in 1261, the rector of Bideford

Bideford

Bideford is a small port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is also the main town of the Torridge local government district.-History:...

. In 1264 he was made the archdeacon of Barnstaple

Barnstaple

Barnstaple is a town and civil parish in the local government district of North Devon in the county of Devon, England, UK. It lies west southwest of Bristol, north of Plymouth and northwest of the county town of Exeter. The old spelling Barnstable is now obsolete.It is the main town of the...

and in the same year, chancellor of Exeter Cathedral

Exeter Cathedral

Exeter Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter at Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon in South West England....

. In 1245 he enjoyed a dispensation enabling him to hold three ecclesiastical benefices. He was buried in the nave of Exeter Cathedral

Exeter Cathedral

Exeter Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter at Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon in South West England....

, in front of an altar bearing his name. He had established a chantry

Chantry

Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...

(a continuous set of prayers in perpetuity) for his soul that was endowed from the revenues of the Manor of Thorverton

Thorverton

Thorverton is a village in Devon, England, about a mile west of the River Exe and north of Exeter. It is almost centrally located between Exeter and the towns of Tiverton and Crediton and contains the hamlets of Yellowford and Raddon. It is surrounded by beautiful hill scenery. It has two churches...

.

Bracton described himself thus: "Ius dicitur ars boni et aequi, cuius merito quis nos sacerdotes appellat: iusticiam namque colimus et sacra iura ministramus." Bracton felt he was a priest of the law, a priest forever in the order of Ulpian

Ulpian

Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus , anglicized as Ulpian, was a Roman jurist of Tyrian ancestry.-Biography:The exact time and place of his birth are unknown, but the period of his literary activity was between AD 211 and 222...

. Domitus Ulpianus (from whom these words are taken - Pandects

Pandects

The Digest, also known as the Pandects , is a name given to a compendium or digest of Roman law compiled by order of the emperor Justinian I in the 6th century .The Digest was one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I...

1.1.1) was a Latin (Roman) jurist of great fame in the Middle Ages. The analogy to the Biblical priest Melchizedek

Melchizedek

Melchizedek or Malki Tzedek translated as "my king righteous") is a king and priest mentioned during the Abram narrative in the 14th chapter of the Book of Genesis....

, Melchizedek priesthood

Melchizedek priesthood

The Melchizedek priesthood is the greater of the two orders of priesthood recognized in Mormonism. The others are the Aaronic priesthood and the rarely recognized Patriarchal priesthood...

is apparent.

Influences on Bracton - Pateshull and Raleigh

Two legal predecessors directly influenced Bracton. The first was Martin de Pateshull, one of John of England

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

's clerks, who became justice of the bench in 1217, and in 1224 was one of the itinerant justices whom Falkes de Breauté

Falkes de Breauté

Sir Falkes de Breauté was an Anglo-Norman soldier who earned high office by loyally serving first King John and later King Henry III in First Barons' War. He played a key role in the Battle of Lincoln Fair in 1217. He attempted to rival Hubert de Burgh, and as a result fell from power in 1224...

attacked. Bracton esteemed Pateshull highly, and remarked, "In any list of regular justices, Pateshull's name so constantly precedes all others that he must have enjoyed some pre-eminence, though perhaps not of a definitive kind." Pateshull was archdeacon of Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral is a cathedral located in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Formerly a Catholic church, it has belonged to the Church of England since the English Reformation....

and dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. His capacity for hard work was such that a brother justice asked Hubert de Burgh to excuse him from going on circuit with Pateshull on the ground that he wore out his colleagues by his incessant activity. Of his abilities as a lawyer, Bracton's appreciative citations speak eloquently. He appears to have gained his reputation as a lawyer, pure and simple. He died in 1229.

The second great influence on Bracton's thinking was William Raleigh, also known as William de Raley

William de Raley

, a native of Devon

Devon

. He was a resident in and around Bratton Fleming

Bratton Fleming

in 1212, when Bracton was born there. Raleigh was a justice of the bench in 1228. In 1234 he pronounced reversal judgment of Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent

Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent

Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent was Earl of Kent, Justiciar of England and Ireland, and one of the most influential men in England during the reigns of John and Henry III.-Birth and family:...

's outlawry. Though he was not a justicier, he was regarded as the chief among judges. In 1237 he was appointed treasurer of Exeter Cathedral

Exeter Cathedral

Exeter Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter at Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon in South West England....

. He was elected to the See of Winchester

Winchester

Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

in 1238 and passed from legal history. His election to this position was violently opposed by the King who favored William of Valence. In 1239 Raleigh was elected to the See of Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

. In 1244 he was elected to the See of Winchester for a second time. He died in 1250. He had much to do with the passage of the Statute of Merton

Statute of Merton

The Statute of Merton or Provisions of Merton , sometimes also known as the Ancient Statute of Merton, is considered to be the first English statute, and is printed as the first statute in The Statutes of the Realm.The statute's terms were agreed at Merton between Henry III and the barons of...

. Raleigh defended the refusal of the barons to change the law of bastardy and legitimation. He invented the writ Quare ejecit infra terminum and was influential in the writing of several other novel writs. It is from Bracton that we get the majority of the history of the law at this time. Bracton is thought to have had a notebook with 2000 cases from Pateshull and Raleigh.

Raleigh granted lands to Bracton in Flemmings of Bratton who held it through his wife's family. Her name was Beaupre. Raleigh was Pateshull's clerk. Later, Bracton became Raleigh's clerk.

Bracton: cosmopolitan outlook

Bracton imbued the courts of his day with a broad, Continental or cosmopolitan outlook. The incorporation of Roman Law began with Ranulf de Glanvill 140 years before. This is demonstrated in Leges Henrici Primi
Leges Henrici Primi
The Leges Henrici Primi or Laws of Henry I is a legal treatise, written in about 1115, that records the legal customs of medieval England in the reign of King Henry I of England. Although it is not an official document, it was written by someone apparently associated with the royal administration...

(Laws of Henry I). There is some controversy about the true nature of Bracton's Romanism. Henry Maine regarded Bracton as a complete fraud, who tried to pass off sheer Romanism as legitimate English law. For this, in his view, Bracton should be completely dismissed as a figure of substance in the formation of English law. Frederic William Maitland

Frederic William Maitland

Frederic William Maitland was an English jurist and historian, generally regarded as the modern father of English legal history.-Biography:...

held the opposite view, positing that Bracton had no real knowledge of Roman law, and the portion which he did proclaim was incomplete and shallow. These were of the opinion that most, if not all the Romanism of Bracton was derived directly from Azo of Bologna, written before 1211. It has proven to be difficult to pinpoint the exact nature of Romanism in Bracton.

When England was conquered by the Normans in 1066

Norman conquest of England

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...

, it came under the influence of the most progressive and best governed system in Europe. It also brought a connection with the entire intellectual life of the Continent that had been absent in the Anglo-Saxon days. Foreigners came to England to study. English youth attended European universities. The only English Pope in history, Pope Adrian IV

Pope Adrian IV

Pope Adrian IV , born Nicholas Breakspear or Breakspeare, was Pope from 1154 to 1159.Adrian IV is the only Englishman who has occupied the papal chair...

was elected in 1154. This can be attributed to Norman influence. On the Continent in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, there was a renaissance in all learning, especially in legal concepts and writing. In Europe, Irnerius

Irnerius

Irnerius , sometimes referred to as lucerna juris , was an Italian jurist, and founder of the School of Glossators and thus of the tradition of Medieval Roman Law....

, the Four Doctors and Accursius revived the study of civil law. These established the school of the Glossators (writers of a "gloss" or short description of the case). Gratian

Gratian (jurist)

Gratian, was a 12th century canon lawyer from Bologna. He is sometimes incorrectly referred to as Franciscus Gratianus, Johannes Gratianus, or Giovanni Graziano. The dates of his birth and death are unknown....

systematized canon law. The Lombard Libri Feudorum

Libri Feudorum

The Libri Feudorum is a twelfth century collection, originating in Lombardy, of feudal customs. The work gained wide acceptance as a statement of the various rules governing the relation of lord and vassal.Later in the century it was integrated into civil law...

and the French Beaumanoir

Beaumanoir

Beaumanoir was a seigniory in what is now the department of Côtes-d'Armor, France, which gave its name to an illustrious family.* Philippe de Rémi , French poet and bailiff* Philippe de Rémi , French jurist and royal official...

reduced to some sort of order the customary feudal law of Europe. Ranulf de Glanvill and Bracton did this same thing for England, following the spirit of the Continent.

Bracton was influenced by an early twelfth-century lawbook entitled Leges Edwardi Confessoris
Leges Edwardi Confessoris
The title Leges Edwardi Confessoris "Laws of Edward the Confessor" refers to an early twelfth-century English collection of 39 laws .-Historical value:The text’s own promises are both false and misleading...

. It is a collection that purportedly recorded the laws and customs current in the time of Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor

Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....

at the behest of his successor William the Conqueror

William I of England

William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

.

William reorganized the land structure in a piecemeal fashion, following the reduction of resistance in various parts of England. His major lords were granted new titles of the land. But the old Saxon legal structure was left largely intact, including the traditional sheriff (shire reeve) and courts of shire

Shire

A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...

and hundred. Maitland is of the opinion that the law of William I and his successors was biased in favor of all things West Saxon (Wessex

Wessex

The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...

) and the Church, while eschewing and denigrating all things Danelaw

Danelaw

The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to...

. Bracton freely intermixes the old Saxon terms such as sac (sake), soc (soke), toll and term, infangthef, utfangthef, thegn

Thegn

The term thegn , from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly used to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves...

, dreng, sochemannus, hide, geld

Geld

Geld may refer to:* Money, in Dutch or German languages* Danegeld, or any Anglo-Saxon or Norman land tax often based on hides* Weregeld* Gelt, Yiddish for money* Gelding, castrated animal-See also:* Gold * Gel...

, hundred, wapentake, bote, wite and wer

WER

WER or Wer may refer to:* Word error rate, in computational linguistics, a common metric of measuring the performance of a speech recognition system* Windows Error Reporting, a feature of Windows XP and later operating systems...

with Norman French terms such as baro, comes

Comes

Comes , plural comites , is the Latin word for companion, either individually or as a member of a collective known as comitatus, especially the suite of a magnate, in some cases large and/or formal enough to have a specific name, such as a cohors amicorum. The word comes derives from com- "with" +...

, vicecomes, vavassor, villanus

Villanus

Villanus was a Benedictine Bishop of Gubbio. Born in Gubbio, Villanus entered religious life by entering the Benedictine monastery, at Fort-Avellana, before in 1206, being appointed Bishop of Gubbio.-References:...

, relief

Feudal relief

Feudal Relief was a one-off "fine" or form of taxation payable to an overlord by the heir of a feudal tenant to licence him to take possession of his fief, i.e. an estate-in-land, by inheritance...

, homage

Homage

Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....

, feudum manerium.

Writings of Bracton

His written work, De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae ("The Laws and Customs of England"), was composed primarily before c. 1235. Most of the text was likely written by William of Raleigh and was then passed along to Bracton, who was his clerk. Bracton's contribution was largely to update the text to include, for example, changes made in the provisions of Merton in 1236. However, the true nature of Bracton's work is not clear. Pollock, Maitland, and Plucknett credit the work more to Bracton and less to the influence of Raleigh. These scholars date the work to a later time, closer to 1260. The work was never completed. According to these authors, the Second Barons' War

Second Barons' War

ended the writing. Bracton had access to (or actual possession of) many rolls of recorded law cases from the King's court. These were called plea rolls

Plea rolls

Plea rolls are parchment rolls recording details of legal suits or actions in a court of law in England.Courts began recording its proceedings in plea rolls and filing its writs from its foundation at the end of the 12th century....

and were usually not publicly available. It is probable he was forced to surrender these before his book was finished. Even in its unfinished state, it is the most thorough English medieval law book. He also likely had access to the cases of Martin Pateshull and William Raleigh, his mentors in the law. A notebook containing 2000 cases from Pateshull and Raleigh has been deemed to be Bracton's. This book contains notes written in the margin that are in Bracton's handwriting. He incorporated the information from these cases in his book. Bracton also studied noted Italian lawyer Azo of Bologna. He was familiar with Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of [Latin] Civil Law), the Decretum

Decretum Gratiani

The Decretum Gratiani or Concordia discordantium canonum is a collection of Canon law compiled and written in the 12th century as a legal textbook by the jurist known as Gratian. It forms the first part of the collection of six legal texts, which together became known as the Corpus Juris Canonici...

and the Decretals, as well as the works of the canonist Tancred of Bologna

Tancred of Bologna

Tancred of Bologna or of Germany , commonly just Tancredus, was a Dominican preacher and canonist. He is easily conflated with a contemporary Dominican, Tancred Tancredi, and the two are sometimes indistinguishable in the sources and have been treated as one person, though this is known to be...

. He became familiar with, and an advocate of the Latin concept of Universal Law or Natural Moral Law, based on his reading of these sources. Bracton would have been familiar with the description of natural moral law applied in the Decretals: "The natural law dates from the creation of the rational creature. It does not vary with time, but remains unchangeable." He also was familiar with Isidore of Seville

Isidore of Seville

Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...

or Isidorus Hispalensis (c. 570-636) who wrote of law: "In determining the nature of law, there must be three conditions: the fostering of religion, in as much as it is proportionate to the Divine law; that it is helpful to discipline, in as much as it is proportionate to the natural law; and that is further the common weal, in as much as it is proportionate to the utility of mankind." Bracton used these works as a basis for his legal philosophy. Certain Latin terms, such as "corpus et animus" (body and soul) being necessary for possession under the law, are seen in Bracton that would appear to be ecclesiastical in origin.

Based on Bracton's notes and writing, Pollock and Maitland believe that he was neither a courtly flatterer nor a champion of despotic monarchy. At other times, he may be accused of distorting: "sed et quod principi placuit."

Bracton's work became the basis for legal literature of Edward I of England

Edward I of England

Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...

. Gilbert Thornton, the chief justice of the king's bench made an epitome

Epitome

An epitome is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment....

of it. This has been lost.

The earliest mention of Roman Law in the Common Law of England is found in 1237-1238, in which a question of whether a palatinate

Count palatine

Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...

can be partitioned among co-heirs. The justices could find no precedent for such a thing in English law, nor in the Magna Carta

Magna Carta

Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...

, nor in Roman Law (in iure scripto), therefore, they adjoined (delayed) their decision. In Bracton's time, it had been determined that the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

was deemed to be a subject of the King of England while in England: Ricardus Rex Alemanniae (Rex Romanorum semper augustus) was impleaded for novel disseisin.

Bracton studied the form of the original writs. He procured, for his own use, complete transcripts of the pleadings in selected cases. These were used to write his treatise on the law. He was also the first to offer commentary on the cases he wrote about. In this way Bracton was modern; he criticized and praised various decisions. He called those who were a generation before him, his "masters". The cases he wrote about were at least twenty years older than his book. His writing is not like a modern legal treatise comparing case results. There is no concept of case law as one would find in a modern text book. He selected cases and wrote a general description of what the law should be in a given set of circumstances. There was no real stare decisis

Stare decisis

Stare decisis is a legal principle by which judges are obliged to respect the precedents established by prior decisions...

. He gave descriptions of what the decision should be in hypothetical fact situations, without mention of actual cases. He also included many sample writs for various situations. Bracton chose cases based on his admiration for the judges involved, and wanted to make examplars of their logic. The inclusion of case law was important, because it was the first time this had occurred in English legal writing. Lawyers for two centuries (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries) were introduced to the concept of case law and legal logic by Bracton's book. A new and modern course was set.

Later manuals, based on Bracton's example contained actual case law, with the captions removed. The ability to read actual cases and decisions, as well as the logic behind them was revolutionary in Bracton's time. The rolls from the court records would not have been available for inspection to anyone. His treatise changed this, forever. The ability to read cases, even if they were more than twenty years old, proved popular, leading directly to publication of the Year Books

Year Books

The Year Books are the modern English name that is now typically given to the earliest law reports of England. Substantial numbers of manuscripts circulated during the later medieval period containing reports of pleas heard before the Common Bench. In the sixteenth century versions of this...

The first Year Book (compilations of court cases for the year) extant was published the year that Bracton died, 1268.

Common law and ecclesiastic courts

During Bracton's time the common law was separate from the canon law of the Church. The former had come to mean all that was not exceptional or special. It was distinguished from Church law, as well as peculiar local customs and royal decrees, and represented the general law of the land. There were some legislative acts, such as the Statute of Merton

Statute of Merton

(1236) and the Statute of Marlborough

Statute of Marlborough

The Statute of Marlborough was a set of laws passed by King Henry III of England in 1267. There were twenty-nine chapters, of which four are still in force...

(1267), however the mass of new law introduced during the reign of Henry III of England

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

, was by novel creative writs and new forms of action invented in the Court of Chancery

Court of Chancery

The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of...

and sanctioned by the common law courts. Bracton knew many writs that were unknown to Ranulf de Glanvill. It was generally perceived that there had to be a limitation on the number of new writs coming out of chancery, or the king would become an uncontrollable law-maker. Chancery was under the control of the Church and ecclesiastic lawyers.

Writs for calling church members to royal courts

Since the time of the Norman Conquest, the relation between church and state was always tendentious. There were two parallel legal systems, one under the aegis of the church, the other under the crown, that continuously vied for jurisdiction and power. Bracton gave samples of writs that could be used in the case of a recalcitrant Bishop who refused to produce a witness for the common law or king's court. These indicate difficulties in defining jurisdiction, as well as recalcitrance on the part of Church officials to partake in civil and common law matters outside the Church court structure.

Example 1: "Henry by the grace of God, etc. to the venerable Father in Christ "B", by the same grace bishop of London, greeting. We order you to cause to come before our justices etc. at such a day, such an archdeacon, to answer [the questions proposed in] "C", with respect to such a plea [as stated above], etc. And then let this clause be added: "as to whom our sheriff of Middlesex has sent word to our aforementioned justices that the aforementioned archdeacon (or such other clerk) has refused to find pledges and has no lay fee by which he can be destrained. And have this writ [brought with you]. Witnesses signed, etc. If the bishop does nothing with regard to the king's order, let the enrolment then be as follows: 'A' offered himself on the fourth day against 'B' with respect to such a plea, and 'B' did not come, and at another time the sheriff was ordered to attach him, and the sheriff sent word that he was a clerk, etc., whereupon such a bishop was ordered to cause him to come and to send the writ, who did nothing therein. Therefore let the bishop be summoned to appear on such a day and to have there the aforementioned 'B' to answer the aforementioned 'A' as to why etc. as described in the original writ, and offer an explanation why he ignored the original order to appear."

Example 2: "The king to the sheriff, greeting. Summon 'F' bishop of London by good summoners to be before the aforesaid justices on such a day, etc. And show why he did not cause him to come forward [in accord with the order in the previous writ]."

Example 3: "The king to the sheriff, greeting, We order you to distrain 'F', bishop of London, by the lands that he holds in barony in your county, to appear before the justices, etc., on such a day and to have there such a clerk to answer to such a one with respect to such a plea etc. and also to have such a clerk to answer to such a one with respect to such a plea, etc., and also to hear his judgment because he did not have the aforesaid clerk on such a day as he was ordered. And have, etc. If neither the bishop nor the clerk come forward on that day, let action be taken against the bishop for contempt, by counsel of the court, and lest the misdeeds remain unpunished, let the king, on the bishop's default, apply his hand, by virtue of his jurisdiction, that the clerk be arrested and held until the bishop claims him, that he either be delivered to him or remain arrested, nor will the sheriff or his bailiffs incur any penalty on that account since execution of the law involves no wrong. For even a bishop and those higher still may be arrested for injuries and crimes. A bishop could expel with impunity a thief who had fled to a church and not be guilty of irregularity, if the thief refused to come out and stand to the judgment of the king and the kingdom. For the sword ought to aid the sword, and thus there are two swords, the spiritual and the temporal."

Bracton on the King of England

Bracton on the King of England: "The king has no equal within his realm. Subjects cannot be the equals of the ruler, because he would thereby lose his rule, since equal can have no authority over equal, not a fortiori a superior, because he would then be subject to those subjected to him. The king must not be under man but under God and under the law, because the law makes the king... for there is no rex where will rules rather than lex. Since he is the vicar of Jesus Christ, whose vicegerent on earth he is..."

This last writing is interesting, in that the king is viewed as almost similar to the Pope of England, that is fulfilling the role of Jesus Christ in England. This opinion, which was probably not limited to Bracton, nor novel with him presaged Wycliff by at least a century and Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

by 250 years.

Papal supremacy asserted

Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....

represented the absolute zenith of papal power in the Middle Ages. Among the many reforms he established was the banning of any ecclesiastic to have income from more than one church or parish. Bracton had received a dispensation to receive the proceeds from three. This indicates his special position within the Church political structure. Innocent III exercised more power than any of his predecessors, or his successors. He famously placed England under interdict

Interdict

The term Interdict may refer to:* Court order enforcing or prohibiting a certain action* Injunction, such as a restraining order...

during the reign of John of England

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

. During and after the Fourth Lateran Council, Innocent III proclaimed that all tithes to the Church should take precedence over any taxes imposed by a state. This was controversial. He also excluded all lay interference (including matters of civil and criminal law). He affirmed the right of Rome to review any and all important legal cases. This made appeal to the Pope more attractive and easier to obtain than in previous generations. He gave the Chancery an improved and more efficient organization. All this occurred in the generation before Bracton, and still was rancorous in his time.

It has been argued and unsettled whether any English Churchman in the 13th century would have disputed that the Pope was the head of the Universal Church. It was admitted that the canon law of the great councils was binding upon all members of the Church. Bracton, being both a lawyer and a cleric wrote of the Pope "in spiritualibus super omnibus habet ordinariam jurisdictionem" (In spiritual things he has an ordinary jurisdiction over all men in his realm.) Not only was the Pope a law giver, but he was also a judge, and in his Curia, could enforce his decrees. Papal legislation was defined and circumscribed by "ius divinium et naturale" - law divine and natural.

Dying intestate

The issue of dying intestate (without a will) attracted the attention of Bracton. The Church had long asserted the role of interpreting wills. If a person died without making a last will and testament, it was tantamount to dying without making a last confession. Bracton wrote: "nullam enim meretur poenam quis, quamvis decedat intestatus." There was a notion that dying without a will, while not exactly a sin, was often God's judgment on sin. To die intestate was to die unconfessed. The law of "personal property" became divorced from the law of "real property" by this, and remains so to this day.

Contract and the writ of prohibition

The development of contract law began in the Church courts, following Roman law. These courts claimed (with some validity) to enforce all promises made by oath, or by "pledge of faith". The man who pledges his faith, or on his soul, arguably has pawned his soul, and in so doing, has left his salvation to actions of another. Henry II of England

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

asserted his jurisdiction over such cases. Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...

claimed concurrent jurisdiction for the Church. Henry won. From that time onward, the royal court was always at the ready to prohibit ecclesiastical judges from entertaining a breach of faith, unless both parties were clerks (church clerics) or the matter lay outside the realm of the temporal. The method was to issue a writ of prohibition, prohibiting the church court from hearing and ruling on the case. The practice developed whereby a contractor would seek relief in a church court and renounce all right to a writ of prohibition. Sometimes the litigant would not receive the decision he wanted in the ecclesiastic court, and then would renounce his pledge, and seek a writ of prohibition from the common law court. Bracton explained that it was a terrible sin to seek a writ of prohibition when one had promised not to seek one. This was a crime that deserved imprisonment. Jurisdiction over such matters, as well as marriages and wills remained contentious in Bracton's day.

Frankalmoign and the writ of prohibition

In Bracton's time, the question frequently arose about land held in frankalmoign (land donated to the Church). Writs were common prohibiting Church courts from meddling into the title of land, even if it were to be held in frankalmoign. The question was that of lay fee, which was the equivalent of secular lands, even though it may have been held in free, pure and perpetual alms. Bracton posited that land which is sacred (housing Churches and the like) was within the jurisdiction of the Church. To this could be added lands donated in the form of a dower

Dower

Dower or morning gift was a provision accorded by law to a wife for her support in the event that she should survive her husband...

. A glance of the plea rolls demonstrates them to be covered with writs of prohibitions directed at ecclesiastical judges in a continuous battle over jurisdiction of Church lands.

Despite these problems, Pollock and Maitland comment that by the end of the reign of Henry III of England

Henry III of England

, the royal and church courts functioned in relative harmony, despite certain disputes over jurisdiction.

Modern liability traced through Bracton

Modern liability can be traced from ancient Anglo-Saxon law through the time of Bracton. From Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...

: "A man acts at his own peril. If a man have a spear over his shoulder, and any man stakes himself upon it, that man will pay the wer

WER

but not the wite... if he be accused of wilfulness in the deed, let him clear himself according to the wite, and with that, let the wite abate. And let this be: if the point be three fingers higher than the hindmost part of the shaft; if they both be on the level, the point of the hindmost part of the shaft, be that without danger. If a man leaves his arms about, and another knocks them over so that they kill or injure a man, the owner is liable. If a man lend his horse to another and the borrower is injured, the lender is liable." This is similar to the modern concept of strict liability

Strict liability

In law, strict liability is a standard for liability which may exist in either a criminal or civil context. A rule specifying strict liability makes a person legally responsible for the damage and loss caused by his or her acts and omissions regardless of culpability...

in tort

Tort

A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...

. Liability, at that time, was not dependent upon negligence, but the act.

A Borough Customs proclaimed that a defendant must swear an oath that he had done nothing to a slain person that had put him "nearer to death than from life."

Ancient law could not discuss the question of intent because it had no mechanism to do so. Offences that were not criminal could be made the ground for appeal of homicide, if they could be put forward as conducing, however indirectly, to death. This idea persisted to the time of Bracton. An oath was required of a man accused of a homicide.

Judge Brian wrote in 1466 (200 years after Bracton): "In my opinion, if a man does a thing he is bound in such a manner that by his deed no injury or damage is inflicted on others. As in the case where I erect a building, and when the timber is being lifted a piece of it falls upon the house of my neighbor and bruises his house, he will have a good action, and that, although the erection of my house was lawful and the timber fell without my intent. Similarly, if a man commits an assault upon me and I cannot avoid him if he wants to beat me, and I lift my stick in self-defense in order to prevent him, and there is a man behind me, although my lifting my stick was lawful to defend myself and I injured him without intent [he would have a cause of action against me]."

In the laws of Cnut the Great it was said that concerning stolen property, an infant was as guilty as if he had discretion. Under Henry I of England

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

, "The man whose conduct has only remotely caused death or injury is liable, it is true, but 'in hiis et similibus, ubi homo aliud intendit et aliud evenit, ubi opus accusatur non voluntas, venialem pocius emendacionem, et honrificenciam judices statuant, sicut acciderit'" The man who has killed by misadventure or in self-defense is liable to pay the wer

WER

but his wrong is emenable.

Under Henry I of England

Henry I of England

"who sins unwittingly shall knowingly make amends" though the lunatic and infant were not liable in criminal acts, which was a change from Anglo-Saxon law. Bracton wrote of homicide, "the crime of homicide, be it either accidental or voluntary, does not permit of suffering the same penalty, because on one case the full penalty must be exacted and in the other there should have been mercy." It is the first signs of discrimination in the law leading to the development of the concept of mens rea

Mens rea

(a guilty mind being necessary to be guilty of a crime). Bracton stressed the animus furendi in theft, that is the intention to steal. Felony is according to intent, a concept that has its foundations in Bracton.

Sanctuary and abjuration

If a criminal could make it to a church, he was given sanctuary. This was a recognition that the Church was a separate jurisdiction. Some law allowed for the criminal to be housed and fed by the clergy for seven days. Bracton recommends 40 days. After this, the reeve would knock on the door of the church and demand that the criminal surrender himself or take the shortest road to a seaport and leave England never to return. If he did not leave the church, he was to be starved. If the criminal stayed on the road to the seaport, he was to be left unharmed. If he went off the road, he could be killed by the population at large. Condemned criminals and those found with stolen goods were not to be given sanctuary. The wife of such was declared a widow and all lands owned by him were escheated to the Crown.

Bracton on the writ of appeal

In every criminal case, which embraces a felony, [the writ] must mention on the appeal the year, the place, the day and the hour in which the case is heard. He [the defendant] must speak of his own accord, and sight and hearing, and must be consistent in what he says and in all circumstantial details. [It should be written like this]: "A" appeals "B", by such words for the death of his brother and should he fail, by such a one, and so on, so that there are several appealing him to one and the same deed.

Equity

Bracton wrote of equity (circa 1258) that it required in equal causes an even-handed justice and a true equality in all things. This appears to have been taken directly from Azo's "Gloss of Roman Law".

Executor of an estate

The executor of an estate could only sue in ecclesiastical courts. At law it was the heir who had to be sued. This was changed in the time of Edward I of England

Edward I of England

. After that, the heir could sue in the common law courts.

Murder fines

The reason for devising the murder-fine was this: in the days of Cnut the Great, King of the Danes, when at the prayer of the English barons he sent his army back to Denmark after he had conquered and pacified England, the barons of England offered themselves as sureties to the said King Cnut that, whatever the force the king kept with him in England they would have form peace in all things so that, if anyone of the English should slay any of the men whom the king kept with him and that man could not make his defense against the charge by the judgment of God, that is by water and iron, justice would be done upon him. If he fled away and could not be arrested they would pay on his behalf sixty-six marks, to be collected in the village where he was slain, because the inhabitants did not produce the slayer. And if the marks could not be collected because of poverty, they would be collected in the hundred for deposit in the king's treasury.
This represents a curious anachronism, since trial by ordeal ("water and iron") had been outlawed in England by the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. (See subpoena ad testificandum

Subpoena ad testificandum

A subpoena ad testificandum is a court summons to appear and give oral testimony for use at a hearing or trial. The use of a writ for purposes of compelling testimony originated in the Ecclesiastical Courts of the High Middle Ages, especially in England...

for details.)

Influence of Bracton

The reign of King John of England

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

(1199–1216) was a time of great turmoil that produced, among other things, the Magna Carta

Magna Carta

and the Papal interdict of Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....

against John. Henry III of England

Henry III of England

(1216–1272) was a child of nine years when he ascended the throne. A few great nobles, encouraged by Pope Honorius III

Pope Honorius III

Pope Honorius III , previously known as Cencio Savelli, was Pope from 1216 to 1227.-Early work:He was born in Rome as son of Aimerico...

(1216–1227) spared the nation the turmoil that would have been expected when a child becomes king. Henry de Bracton arose as one of the greatest judges of all time during the middle part of the reign of Henry III. His case books would soon dwarf even the great work of Ranulf de Glanvill in both quantity and quality.

The Barons' War against Henry III began in 1258 with similar grievances as the previous revolt against King John in 1215. The Barons aimed to reduce the King's power, but they failed as they also had in 1215. An indirect result of this war was that Bracton failed to complete his great legal treatise. The forms of action in trespass "vi et armis

Vi et armis

Trespass vi et armis was a kind of lawsuit at common law called a tort. The cause of action alleged a trespass upon person or property vi et armis, Latin for "by force and arms." The plaintiff would allege in a pleading that the act committing the offense was "immediately injurious to another's...

", among other forms of action in trespass and seisin were developed at this time. The phrase of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester

was, "Wars are the result of extra-judicial distress." This is an important observation to understand the time of Bracton. The use of war was another tool, beside the rule of law, for the powerful to attain their ends. The barons' grievances resulted in the Statute of Marlborough

Statute of Marlborough

The Statute of Marlborough was a set of laws passed by King Henry III of England in 1267. There were twenty-nine chapters, of which four are still in force...

in 1267.

Plucknett writes "It was the mediaevalists in England, armed with Bracton and the Year Books

Year Books

who ended Stuart statecraft. The Constitution of the United States was written by men who had Magna Carta

Magna Carta

and Bracton, and Coke

Edward Coke

Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...

and Littleton

Thomas de Littleton

Sir Thomas de Littleton was an English judge and legal writer.-Early life:He was born, it is supposed, at Frankley Manor House, Worcestershire, England in about 1407. Littleton’s surname was that of his mother, who was the sole daughter and heiress of Thomas de Littleton, Lord of Frankley. She...

before their eyes. Could anything be more medieval that the idea of due process

Due process

Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...

or the insertion in an instrument of government a contract clause? 'Pacta sunt servanda' (Pacts should be kept) became a motto of Edward I. The result can be traced directly to the work and writings of Bracton.

It was Machiavelli who gave us the modern word "state" and fleshed it out to our present conception of it. In Bracton's time a state was defined by a king, based on the rule of law, which ultimately must end in and lead to the will of God. This is different today. The right is based on the will of the state.

Bracton was popular in his day. Several contemporaneous copies of his book are still in existence. However, several scholars, including Plucknett and Holdsworth believe that few actually followed Bracton's doctrine as defined by his writings. The growth of procedure overwhelmed the general (and genial) view and wide learning of Bracton. For a time, he fell completely out of favor. The printing press restored Bracton to prominence in English legal literature. The edition published in 1569 was described by Plucknett as "...perhaps the best printed law book we have ever had." Bracton's work appeared at an important time during the reign of Queen Elizabeth

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

.

Bracton's liberal interpretation of the law (as expressed in portions of his book) were slow in taking root in English law. The decline of Bracton's influence in the middle of the fourteenth century coincides with Parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

's first assertions of its powers. Already, it had come to be the principal and only legislative body, and the dominant interest in it was that of the common law lawyers. This had become a narrow profession. The Crown adopted the practice of appointing judges from the leading practitioners of the bar. These also controlled legal education. There was no liberal outlook on the law. To these, Bracton's treatise must have seemed impractical and academic. Justice became more centralized.

Prior to Bracton, there was little use of stare decisis

Stare decisis

Stare decisis is a legal principle by which judges are obliged to respect the precedents established by prior decisions...

. This was because the rolls containing the court records were largely unavailable for scrutiny, even by judges sitting on the bench. Bracton's use of the rolls led to promulgation of recorded cases in the form of a gloss. This had been an important innovation based on the glossator's practice from the Continent. The availability of previous decisions, even if 20 or more years old proved to be of great interest to nearly all practitioners of the law. This led directly to the Year Books

Year Books

. A single unique decision did not make precedent. Custom began to be dictated when several cases of similar fact pattern were decided by different courts in the same way. This was the beginning of stare decisis.

Sir Thomas Smith, the Secretary of State

Secretary of State

Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

for Queen Elizabeth wrote "De Republica Anglorum" in 1583. In it he set forth the truly fearful powers of the Crown and Parliament, which can make and unmake law, change rights and possessions of private men, legitimate bastards, establish religions, condemn or absolve (by attainders) whomever the Prince wills. Smith was no advocate of tyranny, but he clearly enjoyed enumerating an imposing list of powers of the Tudor state. In Bracton, on the other hand, the emphasis was not upon the power of the Crown, but in responsibility. The monarch was subject to God, to the law of the land, and to his feudal court. In Bracton, the king owed some responsibility to listen to his lords. (Recall that Bracton had observed and experienced the turmoil from the Barons' War, and lived in the backwash of the problems of John.) Bracton's writings became a de facto antidote to the absolutism of the Tudors and the Stuarts. Bracton brought an air of clarity, from his study of Roman order, to the confusion that followed the English Reformation

English Reformation

The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....

. The anonymous re-publisher of Bracton recommends him as worthy of emulation, since the other books of the day were "indigesta confusio". The law under Elizabeth was medieval. The trend of the day was toward Romanism. Bracton was popular in the time of Elizabeth because he was available through the printing press. In later times, he was read because he was Roman. He was popular because he was medieval.

External links

Bracton Online, Harvard Law School Library
HENRY DE BRACTON at 1911 Encyclopedia

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Life of Bracton

Influences on Bracton - Pateshull and Raleigh

Bracton: cosmopolitan outlook

Writings of Bracton

Common law and ecclesiastic courts

Writs for calling church members to royal courts

Bracton on the King of England

Papal supremacy asserted

Dying intestate

Contract and the writ of prohibition

Frankalmoign and the writ of prohibition

Modern liability traced through Bracton

Sanctuary and abjuration

Bracton on the writ of appeal

Equity

Executor of an estate

Murder fines

Influence of Bracton

Related links

External links