Sir Ranulf de Glanville was Chief Justiciar of England during the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189). Born in Suffolk, he served twice as Sheriff of Yorkshire and once as Sheriff of Lancashire, and "custodian of the honour of Richmond." In 1174, William the Lion, king of Scotland, surrended to him at the Battle of Alnwick. Glanville became justiciar of the king's court in 1176 and a justice itinerant; in 1180 he became Chief Justiciar. With Glanville's assistance, Henry II carried out extensive legal reforms in England, and it may have been at Henry's behest that Glanville either wrote, or supervised the writing of, Tractatus de legibus et consuetinibus regni Angliae (Treatise on the laws and customs of the Kingdom of England). Dated around 1188, the book was the first systematic codification of English law that defined legal process. It also introduced writs, an innovation that survives the present day (and spells out how specific writs should be prepared). The book is considered the classic authority on English common law. The introduction to this edition notes that: "This treatise is more than a mere law book. It is a monument to one of the greatest legal reformers of all time. Henry II came to the throne, after a long period of anarchy, to find countless systems of law administered by a confused and confusing mass of popular courts and feudal courts. He at once set himself to bring order and unity out of anarchy and chaos. He made the King's Court the common court of the land; he determined its jurisdiction as against the church, the lords and the sheriffs; and he made it the guardian of a King's peace, which should protect high and low throughout the whole land. The establishment of peace was in fact the chief objective of his stormy career. Glanville's treatise shows us the method he took to secure his object." The Treatise consists of fourteen books, on the following topics: Pleas belonging to the King's Court, or to the Sherriff; Essoins; the preparatory steps up to the time both parties to a suit appear in court Summons, Appearance, Pleadings, Duel or Grand Assize, the Champion, Judgement and Execution Vouching to Warranty; and of two Lords, under one of whom is the Demandant and under the other is the Tenant Rights of the Ecclesiastical Advowsons Condition and Villeinage Dower Alienation, Descents, Succession, Wardship, Testaments final Concords and Records in general Homage, Relief, Fealty, Services, Purprestures, and Boundaries Disturbed Debts arising from different types of Contracts, Pledges and Gages (whether Movable or Immovable), Charters containing Debts Attornies Plea of Right and Writs of Right, when brought in the Lord's Court, and the manner of removing them to the County Court and Curia Regis; which leads to the mention some other Writs determinable before the Sheriff. Pleas by Assises and Recognitions, different kinds of Disseisins Criminal Pleas belonging to the Crown This English translation was first published in London in 1812 and reissued in 1900 with a new introduction by Joseph Henry Beale, Jr., A.M., L.L.B., Professor of Law at Harvard University. Read a Sample Chapter. Available in print and electronic editions from Lulu.com.