The Norman Conquest and the Common Law

Out of Print

This Book has been written to explain (as far as possible in non-technical terms) how the Norman Conquest affected the legal system which had been developed in Saxon England, and the extent to which it influenced the subsequent development of the Common Law in England.

It attempts to reflect the very great contributions to our knowledge of this subject which have been made by a long line of distinguished historians, of whom Pollock, Maitland, Stubbs, Holdsworth, and (in our own day) Sir Frank, and Lady Stenton, Professor G.O. Sayles, and Professor David Douglas merit particular mention in a list which would be too long to set out at length.

The selected list of readings which follows the text has been included in the hope that it will induce some readers to pursue their investigation of the most decisive episode in English legal history further.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Selden Society (whose lengthening list of volumes form a most impressive addition to our source material for legal history) for permission to reproduce the extracts from their publications which appear in the text; to the Cambridge University Press for permission to quote extracts from Pollock and Maitland's History of English Law before the time of Edward I; and to my secretary; Mrs. C. Ivamy, M.A., for assistance in the preparation of the text; and finally to my research assistant, Mrs. S. Saeed, B.A., LL.M., who has prepared the Index.

G. W. KEETON
University College London