On the Laws and Customs of England

Book excerpt: This publication, issued in cooperation with the Selden Society, reproduces completely the Yale edition of 1915-1942, which has long been unobtainable. To it has been added an English translation, the first in almost a century, incorporating many improvements of the text, drawn from a re-examination of the manuscripts and a further identification of Henry de Bracton's sources, Roman and English. Volume I contains George E. Woodbine's prolegomena to his edition, written in 1915, to which Samuel Thorne has added a prefatory note, reclassifying and redating the manuscripts on which the edition was based. Volume II begins the text and translation, which will be completed in Volume III and Volume IV. Notes and indices will appear in Volume V.