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The Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliae (Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England), often called Glanvill, is the earliest treatise on English law. Attributed to Ranulf de Glanvill (died 1190) and dated 1187–1189, it was revolutionary in its systematic codification that defined legal process and introduced writs, innovations that have survived to the present day. It is considered a book of authority in English common law.
Written for Henry II (r. 1154–1189) as the culmination of his long struggle to return the kingdom to peace and prosperity following years of anarchy, the Tractatus is fairly described as the means to implement Henry's objectives. It would be supplanted [citation needed] as a primary source of English law by the De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae (On the Laws and Customs of England) of Henry de Bracton (c. 1210 – c. 1268), which itself owes much of its heritage to the Tractatus.
There has been debate over the actual author of all or parts of the Tractatus. The legal opinions of Glanvill's nephew, Hubert Walter are certainly cited.[2] Whatever the case, Glanvill perhaps supervised and certainly approved the work, and the issue is sidestepped in the literature by using terminology such as "commonly attributed to Glanvill".
- ^ Ranulfo de Glanvilla (Ranulf de Glanville) (1780), Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Regni Angliæ, tempore regis Henrici Secundi compositus, justiciæ gubernacula tenente illustri viro Ranvlpho de Glanvilla, Juris Regni et antiquarum Consuetudinum eo tempore peritissimo. Et illas solum leges continet et consuetudines secundum quas placitatur in Curiâ regis, ad Scaccarium, et coram justiciis ubicunque fuerint. Cum MSS. Harl. Cott. Bodl. et Mill. collatus, London: Prostant venales apud J. White et E. Brooke, OCLC 437769980.
- ^ Robert C. Stacey, ‘Walter, Hubert (died 1205)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004