Statutes and Their Interpretation in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

How medieval courts read law shaped the laws we study today. This title analyzes early forms of statute interpretation in the first half of the fourteenth century, showing how judges and legislators treated written statutes as binding authority with real consequences in cases from wardship to novel disseisin.

The book draws on Year Book reports and case summaries to trace a shift toward strict statutory reading. It reveals debates in the courts about when and how statutes should govern pleas, writs, and remedies, and how this thinking evolved through the reigns of Edward II and Edward III.

• How statutes moved from verbal to written authority and affected everyday legal procedure.


• Cases that illustrate early tensions between common law and statute law.


• Examples of judges arguing for fidelity to the text and the king’s prerogative.


• The development of what later scholars call a theory of strict interpretation.

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