English Legal History and its Sources
Essays in Honour of Sir John Baker

17th Oct 2024 by UName-456522

TRAVEL BACK IN TIME: ORIGINAL SOURCES REVEAL STARTLING INSIGHTS INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH COMMON LAW An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers and Reviews Editor, “The Barrister” Whether barristers or solicitors, lawyers in any category who might possibly regard legal history as perhaps not terribly relevant to their daily concerns, should only read this book, a recent title from the Cambridge University Press. You never know they might find it fascinating, as these reviewers definitely do. Compiled in tribute to Sir John Baker, acknowledged as the best-known legal historian of all, the book reveals much about the development of the English common law, from the twelfth century to the nineteenth — including its everyday realities. Under the able editorship of David Ibbotson, Neil Jones and Nigel Ramsay, the contributors, all distinguished scholars in this field, have gleaned their materials and drawn their conclusions from original sources, as all good historians should do. Consisting of documentation written and produced as permanent records at the time and on the spot — these sources include reports of litigation (reprinted and in manuscript)… court records… abridgements… records of fees and accounts… legal images… conveyances… and more — and this is by no means an exhaustive list. If fees are your thing (and you are not alone in this) check out the fee records of, for example, William Stainford, a practitioner of the Tudor period during the reign of Henry VIII who meticulously recorded his fees (‘gaynes’) at the Bar from 1539-40 to 1553-54. ‘My Gaynes of the law,’ he calls them, ‘syns I began to practise, which was in the beginning of Lent, Anno XXX of our most drad sourerain, Lorde Henri.’ It may be understating the case to say that this book really takes you back in time. Over its twenty chapters by as many contributors, the book is divided into four parts namely ‘Law Reports and Reporting… Courts and Records of Litigation… Images of the Law… and Legal Practice and Legal Learning. The section on ‘images’ (including Magna Carta) discusses the visual symbolism and iconography of the law, which far from being ‘irrelevant and immaterial’ as some might claim, is shown quite convincingly to ‘complement and supplement the information provided by the records.’ It’s argued that such visual portrayals of the courts and the legal profession across a range of media - including insignia, prints, engravings and cartoons - convey a particular resonance in legal history and can be explored from interdisciplinary points of view. Baker himself apparently assembled quite a collection of such images! There is much, much more to admire and learn from this volume which appropriately ends with an essay on ‘The Glorious Uncertainty of the Law’ 1810-1830.’ Certainly, the book offers readers one startling insight after another into the evolution of the common law. Also note the amazing number of references for further research. The date of publication of this hardback edition is cited as at 2nd May 2019.

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