Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Regni Angliae: Tempore Regis Henrici Secundi Compositus, Iusticie Gubernacula Tenente Illustri Viro Ranulpho de Glanvilla Iuris Regni & Antiquarum Consuetudinu[M] eo Tempore Peritissimo. et Illas Solu[M] Leges Continet & Consuetudines Secundum Quas Placitatur In Curia Regis Ad Scaccarium & Coram Iusticiis Ubicunque Fuerint. Huic Adiectae Sunt A Quodam Legum Studioso Adnotationes Aliquot Marginales Non Inutiles
by Ranulf de Glanville
Tractatus | |
Title page from Tractatus, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary. | |
Author | Ranulf de Glanville |
Editor | Sir William Staunford |
Published | London: in aedibus Richardi Totteli. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum |
Date | 1554 |
Edition | First printed |
Language | Latin |
Pages | [6] pages, 113 (i.e. 116) numbered leaves, [34] pages |
Desc. | 12mo (14 cm.) |
Location | Shelf F-1 |
According to tradition, Glanville wrote Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Regni Angliae (Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England), the "earliest treatise on the common law," [2] "a manual concerning royal judicial procedures."[3] The treatise was composed sometime after 1187, and many writers suggest that the attribution to Glanville is incorrect, proposing instead E. de Narbrough, Henry II,[4] or Hubert Walter.[5] Regardless of the authorship, the volume "will not cease to be regarded as a venerable historical monument, the first collected rays of the old Common Law."[6]
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Wythe ordered "Glanville" from John Norton & Sons in a letter dated May 29, 1772. Records indicate the order was fulfilled.[7] "Glanvil. 12mo." is also listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library. This was one of the titles kept by Thomas Jefferson, who sold copies of both the first (1554) and second (1673) editions of Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Regni Anglie to the Library of Congress. Both volumes still exist today, but neither has definitive markings linking it to Wythe.[8] The Brown Bibliography[9] includes both editions at the Library of Congress. George Wythe's Library[10] on LibraryThing and Goodwin's pamphlet[11] both list the second (1673) edition. Because we do not know which edition Wythe owned, and because the Wolf Law Library prefers first editions when the edition is unknown, the library moved a copy of the 1554 from another rare book collection to the George Wythe Collection.
Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy
Contemporary binding with blind tooling; fragment of early illuminated vellum manuscript used as spine lining (1/2 inch tabs visible). Includes marginalia and annotations in brown ink throughout and inscription "Ex lib: Guli: Acton 1724" at the head of the title page. Purchased through the generosity of Daniel W. Baran and Lena Stratton Baran, Class of 1936. Images of the library's copy of this book are available on Flickr. View the record for this book in William & Mary's online catalog.