An important book by a preeminent scholar of English legal history Using evidence drawn from the Year Books from 20 Edw. I to 20 Edw. III Plucknett analyzes the nature of early statutes as seen in the rules for their construction and their use in court. He shows that the early statutes were more legislative than declaratory, and were treated as such by the courts. "This is an essay of absorbing interest and of great value to historians of the law. Every page shows not only immense industry, but sound learning." --Law Quarterly Review 39:138-139 Theodore F. T. Plucknett [1897-1965] was a Fellow of the British Academy, Professor of Legal History in the University of London and author of A Concise History of the Common Law (1929). CONTENTS General Preface by H.D. Hazeltine Author"s Preface Table of Statutes Table of Year Book Cases Sources List of Incipits Introduction. The Problem and the Evidence PART I. Legislation and Legal thought in the Early Fourteenth Century The Scope of...