Frederic William Maitland

The Constitutional History of England: a Course of Lectures Delivered Frederic William Maitland

Originally published: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908. xxviii, 547 pp. Although Maitland never intended to publish these lectures, they have long been regarded as one of the best introductions to the English Constitution. Delivered in the winter of 1887 and spring of 1888, and edited and published in 1908 by one of Maitland's students, Herbert A. L. Fisher, they cover the period from 1066 to the end of the nineteenth century. Rather than a narrative historical format, they focus on describing the work of the constitution during five distinct moments in English history: 1307, 1509, 1625, 1702 and 1887. They provide an entry to some of the major concepts he later expounded in his seminal work written with Sir Frederick Pollock, The History of English Law.

Widely considered the father of modern legal history, FREDERIC WILLIAM MAITLAND [1850-1906] was an English jurist and historian best known for The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I (1895), written with Sir Frederick Pollock. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and studied at Lincoln's Inn, London. Maitland was called to the bar in1876 and practiced until 1884, when he became a reader in English law (1884) and professor (1888) at Cambridge. He founded the Selden Society in 1887. Hailed for his original outlook on history, his works had a profound influence on legal scholarship and remain important today.