The essays in this volume discuss the pervasive influence of Roman canon law on the Church of England and the English Ecclesiastical Courts. The essays are: I. William Lyndwood, II. Church, State and Decretals, III. William of Drogheda and the Universal Ordinary, IV. Henry II and the Criminous Clerks, V. "Execrabilis" in the Common Pleas; VI. and The Deacon and the Jewess.

Widely considered the father of modern English legal history, Maitland [1850-1906], a prolific scholar, is best known for The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I (1895), which he co-wrote with Sir Frederick Pollock. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, studied at Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in 1876. After a few years in practice he returned to Cambridge as Reader in English Law in 1884 and Downing Professor of the Laws of England in 1883, a post he held for the rest of his life. His innovative approach to historical sources had a decisive influence on legal scholarship and the study of medieval history in Great Britain and the United States.

vii, 184 pp.