Bracton, Henry de

Bracton, Henry de, d. 1268, English writer on law. He was the author of De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae [on the laws and customs of England], a broad, philosophic treatise that is often called the most important work on English law before that of Sir William Blackstone. Sir Edward Coke and others used the work in their legal arguments against the king in the English civil war.

Bibliography

See edition of De legibus by G. E. Woodbine (4 vol., 1915–42); edition of Bracton's notebook by F. W. Maitland (3 vol., 1887).

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Bracton, Henry de 

(Bratton). Date of birth unknown; died 1268. English jurist. Systematizer of 13th-century English common law.

Beginning in 1245, Bracton was a royal itinerant judge; later he was made a judge of the Court of King’s Bench. Bracton was a defender of the privileges of the feudal aristocracy. In the treatise On the Laws and Customs of England, compiled basically between 1250 and 1256, he laid the legal foundation for the attempt by the lords to strengthen and increase their exploitation of the villeins. Bracton equated the villeins with ancient Roman slaves; in accordance with this, he defined their property status and personal status on the estate.

WORKS

Bracton’s Notebook, vols. 1–3. London, 1887.