The Oxford History of the Laws of England. Volume II

This book is an extraordinary achievement. The author’s task was clearly immense, considering not only the length of time to be treated but also the often difficult evidential base, frequent conceptual problems, and the need to revisit many contested and much-debated issues. Moreover, John Hudson approaches the history of law with a wide lens, encompassing: royal ideology; legislation and administration; disputing; legal custom (most especially in terms of land holding); and the identification and evolution of legal ideas. Not surprisingly, the structure of the book is a tripartite one, dealing with late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Angevin England. Each part begins with an overview, entitled Kings and Law, and proceeds to cover courts, procedure, land, moveables, theft and violence, status, marriage and the family, with some concluding observations. The study of the Anglo-Saxon period highlights, inter alia, the machinery of royal government and the structure of the court system, as well as the content of the law and changes therein. The second part emphasises aspects of continuity, notwithstanding the disruptions of Stephen’s reign, and, inevitably, the post-Conquest land law. Among the themes that stand out in Hudson’s treatment of the Angevin period is the routinisation of justice, the closer linkage between central government and the localities, and the development of legal expertise and the beginnings of professionalisation. Included here is an invaluable chronological survey of Angevin reform which, in complementing the thematic treatment, helps us to comprehend more fully the developments in thought and procedure more or less as they occurred. There are also three broad and illuminating chapters on agreements and debt, and on forest and borough law

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