Medieval UK & Irish Law: IALS Library Guides

Guide last updated by Jed Harford, March 2025

This guide aims to give a brief introduction to the Library's holdings on Medieval Law in the UK and Ireland. Please consult the Library Catalogue for complete information on current titles and locations. If you require further assistance please contact us.

Monday-Friday 9:00-17:00
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This Subject Guide only lists a selection of Library resources we have at IALS. To find additional resources you will need to search the Library Catalogue, which covers the complete holdings of the Library. It is possible to search for books, journals and series of law reports by author, title or keyword. Please note it is not possible to search for individual chapters, journal articles or legislation (e.g. individual Acts or SIs).

IALS Library is mainly open access and readers are able to browse the shelves in the main collection. There are two main exceptions to this:

• Older items (marked RES or Depository on the catalogue record) are kept in the closed basement.
• Key texts for LLM students are often kept in the Short Loan collection.

Please request these at the Library Enquiry Desk on the 2nd floor.

Please see our Finding books and e-books guide for more information on understanding a library catalogue record. For further guidance on the location of materials please refer to our Resources & Collections page.

The Library classifies textbooks either by jurisdiction (GO13, GA2 etc.) or according to subject area, examples of which include Comparative Law (SB), Public International Law (SG) and Private International Law/ Conflict of Laws (SH). All classmark sections have a FOL section for oversize volumes, which is located on the same floor of the Library.

When you are searching the Library Catalogue for books, please note that only the current edition is held on the open shelves or in the Short Loan collection. IALS has a rich collection of previous editions held in the closed basement and these will display a Depository number on the catalogue. Please request previous editions from the Enquiry Desk on the 2nd floor.

The following lists represent a selection of books on medieval law. This guide focuses primarily on the period roughly from the Norman conquest in 1066 to the end of the 15th century, when the Early Modern period began. Its scope includes England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Please check the catalogue records for further information and locations.

From the arrival of the Anglo-Norman kings to the dawn of the Tudor dynasty, great changes took place in the law and governance of the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period the individual power of the king gradually devolved to other institutions, changing the landscape of the law and how it was implemented. These are some general introductions to law across the period and its development over time: 

• A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England  Bryce Lyon
• A History of English Law [vols 1-3]  William Holdsworth
• The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I [vol 1]  Pollock & Maitland
• The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I [vol 2]  Pollock & Maitland
• The Oxford History of the Laws of England [vol 2]: 817-1216  John Hudson

Below are some works pertaining to the different countries of the British Isles. They have been grouped by their relevance to those countries, even though some content may overlap. For example, Legislation of Edward I is grouped under England because that is where Edward I primarily exercised his rule, even if some legislation may relate to other parts of the UK:

ENGLAND

• Edward I and Criminal Law  Theodore Plucknett
• English Law in the Age of the Black Death, 1348-1381: A Transformation of Governance and Law  Robert C. Palmer
• Kingship, Law, and Society: Criminal Justice in the Reign of Henry V  Edward Powell
• Land, Law, and Lordship in Anglo-Norman England  John Hudson
• Legislation of Edward I  Theodore Plucknett
• Magna Carta  J.C. Holt
• Medieval Society and the Manor Court  ed. Razi & Smith
• The County Courts of Medieval England 1150-1350  Robert C. Palmer
• The King and his Courts: The Role of John and Henry III in the Administration of Justice, 1199-1240  Ralph V. Turner

SCOTLAND

• A Legal History of Scotland [vol 1]: The Beginnings to A.D. 1286  David M. Walker
• A Legal History of Scotland [vol 2]: The Later Middle Ages  David M. Walker
• Common Law and Feudal Society in Medieval Scotland  Hector L. MacQueen
• Hunting and Hunting Reserves in Medieval Scotland  John M. Gilbert
• Scottish Legal History [vol 1]: 1000-1707  Simpson & Wilson

WALES

• Lawyers and Laymen  ed. Charles-Edwards, Owen, & Walters
• The Legal History of Wales  Thomas Glyn Watkin
• The Welsh Legal Triads  Sara Elin Roberts

IRELAND

• A History of the King's Serjeants at Law in Ireland: Honour Rather than Advantage?  [part 1, ch. 1]  -  [parts 2-3]  A.R. Hart
• English Law in Ireland, 1290-1324  G.J. Hand
• Mysteries and Solutions in Irish Legal History: Irish Legal History Society Discourses and Other Papers, 1996-1999  [ch. 1]  ed. Greer and Dawson
• Studies in Irish Legal History  [ch. 4, 5 & 6]  W. N. Osborough
• The Irish Parliament in the Middle Ages  Richardson & Sayles
• The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 [vol 1]  F. Elrington Ball

Primary sources are some of the best material we have for looking at the actions and thoughts of those from the past. Material such as the Statutes at Large volumes or law texts from medieval Wales are obvious inclusions, but also included here are charter compilations and court documents. These may not be considered laws in the same way that we think of laws nowadays, but charters give a glimpse of the origins of the law as the individual power of the king; along with the decisions from medieval courts, these documents show us the decisions and processes out of which the common law was eventually formed. They have been divided by country again to give them rough jurisdictional groupings. This is material that has been translated or summarised in English for ease of access for readers:

ENGLAND

• Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum: The Acta of William I 1066-1087  ed. David Bates
• Placita Anglo-Normannica: Law Cases from William I to Richard I  ed. Melville Madison Bigelow
• Leges Henrici Primi  ed. L.J. Downer
• English Historical Documents [vol 2]: 1042-1189  ed. Douglas & Greenaway
• English Historical Documents [vol 3]: 1189-1327  ed. Harry Rothwell
• English Historical Documents [vol 4]: 1327-1485  ed. A.R. Myers
• City of London Court, Plea & Memoranda Rolls 1298-1412 [vols 1-4]
• The Statutes at Large, of England and of Great Britain: From Magna Carta to the Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland [vol 1]
• The Seldon Society have published titles for various periods at our classmark GA2.J.30 which include, but are not limited to: select pleas, chancery cases, exchequer cases, forest pleas, borough customs, year books, justices rolls, law suits

SCOTLAND

• Regesta Regum Scottorum [vol 1]: The Acts of Malcolm IV, King of Scots 1153- 1165  ed. G.W.S. Barrow
• Regesta Regum Scottorum [vol 2]: The Acts of William I, King of Scots 1165-1214  ed. Barrow & Scott
• Regesta Regum Scottorum [vol 5]: The Acts of Robert I, King of Scots 1306-1329  ed. Archibald A. M. Duncan
• Regesta Regum Scottorum [vol 6]: The Acts of David II, King of Scots 1329-1371  ed. Bruce Webster
• The Laws of Medieval Scotland: Legal Compilations from the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries  ed. Alice Taylor
  • There are other volumes at this classmark GA4.J.15 that may be of interest for medieval Scottish law

WALES

• The Acts of Welsh Rulers 1120-1283  ed. Huw Pryce, with Charles Insley
• The Law of Hywel Dda: Law Texts of Medieval Wales  ed. Dafydd Jenkins
• The Legal Triads of Medieval Wales  Sarah Elin Roberts

IRELAND

• The Statutes at Large, Passed in the Parliaments Held in Ireland [vol 1]: 1310-1612 

Below is a small selection of material that details the changes and origins of certain areas of the law that began, or developed, during the Middle Ages: 

• A History of the English Bar and Attornatus to 1450  Herman Cohen
• Early English Arbitration  Derek Roebuck
• Imprisonment in Medieval England  R. B. Pugh
• Origins of the Early English Maritime and Commercial Law  Frederic Rockwell Sanborn
• The Birth of the English Common Law  R.C. van Caenegem
• The Creation of the Common Law: The Medieval "Year Books" Deciphered  Thomas Lund
• The English Parliament in the Middle Ages  Richardson & Sayles
• The Fee Tail and the Common Recovery in Medieval England 1176-1502  Joseph Biancalana
• Women in the Medieval Common Law c.1200-1500  Gwen Seabourne

IALS has a great selection of e-resources through our online catalogue that you can access either on site or remotely. Simply go to the Library Catalogue and search for your desired subject by using the KEYWORD function to see if we have any e-resources on that topic. Below is a selection of titles that may be of interest: 

• Domesday Book and the Law: Society and Legal Custom in Early Medieval England  Robin Fleming
• Kings, Barons and Justices: The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England  Paul Brand
• Law and Legal Process: Substantive Law and Procedure in English Legal History  ed. Dyson & Ibbetson
• ​​​​​Law Courts and Lawyers in the City of London 1300-1550  Penny Tucker
• Maintenance in Medieval England  Jonathan Rose
• Medieval English Conveyances  J. M. Kaye
• The English Judiciary in the Age of Glanvill and Bracton c.1176-1239  Ralph V. Turner
• The Growth of Law in Medieval Wales c.1100-c.1500  Sara Elin Roberts
• The Law of Treason in England in the Later Middle Ages  J. G. Bellamy
• The Place in Legal History of Sir William Shareshul l, Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1350-1361: a Study of Judicial & Administrative Methods in the Reign of Edward III  Bertha Haven Putnam
• Treason and Masculinity in Medieval England: Gender, Law and Political Culture  E. Amanda McVitty
• Women and Parliament in Later Medieval England  W. M. Ormrod
• Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III: [vol 1]  -  [vol 2]  -  [vol 3]  -  [vol 4]  -  [vol 5]  -  [vol 6]
• Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward I: [vol 1]  -  [vol 2]  -  [vol 3]  -  [vol 4]
• Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward II: [vol 1]  -  [vol 2]  -  [vol 3]  -  [vol 4]  -  [vol 5]

Hopefully you found this helpful!

These lists are by no means exhaustive. IALS has many more physical and online resources relating to medieval law. This guide has not touched on the history of law from other medieval societies; we have more from Continental Europe and beyond, as well as a whole range of material on medieval canon law. Hopefully this guide is a useful starting point for your studies on medieval law, but remember to browse our Library Catalogue for further resources. Good luck and don't forget to ask at the Enquiry Desk on the 2nd floor for any assistance with finding material.