The Selden Society is the only learned society

Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...

 to be devoted to the study of English legal history.

The Society was founded in 1887 by FW Maitland

Frederic William Maitland

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

. The main activity of the Society is publishing historical records of English law

English law

English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...

. Since the society's inception, a volume of interesting and important texts has been published every year. The society also publishes a supplementary series.

The President is the Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge

Igor Judge

Igor Judge, Baron Judge PC is a Maltese-born English judge and has been Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, the head of the English judiciary, since October 2008...

, PC, QC. The current literary director of the Society is Professor Sir John Baker

John Baker (legal historian)

Sir John Hamilton Baker, QC, FBA, FRHistS, FBS is an English legal historian. He has been the Downing Professor of the Laws of England at the University of Cambridge since 1988.-Biography:...

, Downing Professor of the Laws of England

Downing Professor of the Laws of England

The Downing Professorship of the Laws of England is one of the senior professorships in law at the University of Cambridge.The chair was founded in 1800 as a bequest of Sir George Downing, the founder of Downing College, Cambridge. The professorship was originally attached solely to Downing College...

 at Cambridge University. The Secretary is Victor Tunkel. The Society meets for an AGM every year, but other meetings are held in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The Society often collaborates with the Ames Foundation at Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

.

The membership of the society is primarily composed of educational institutions and interested individuals (mostly legal historians and lawyers).

The David Yale Prize is awarded biennially to a young scholar (under the age of 35) for a distinguished contribution to the laws and legal institutions of England and Wales. The award was set up in 1999 in honour of David Yale FBA Hon Q.C.

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

, former President of the Selden Society. The prize has been awarded to:

• 1999 Thomas P. Gallanis for his article 'The Rise of Modern Evidence Law'
• 2001 Daniel Klerman for his article 'Settlement and the Decline of Private Prosecution in Thirteenth-Century England'
• 2003 Neil Jones for his article 'The Use Upon a Use in Equity Revisited'
• 2005 Not awarded
• 2007 Sara Elin Roberts for her monograph The Legal Triads of Medieval Wales