Legal History — Overview
Discussion Groups
These self-sustaining groups are an essential part of the life of our graduate school. They are organised in some cases by graduate students and in others by Faculty members and meet regularly during term, typically over a sandwich lunch, when one of the group presents work in progress or introduces a discussion of a particular issue or new case. They may also encompass guest speakers from the faculty and beyond.
Publications
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Showing 5 of the most recent publications
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P A Brand and others, Credit and Debt in Medieval England, c. 1180-c.1350 (Oxbow Books 2002) [...]
My contribution to this volume is a chapter on 'Aspects of the Law of Debt, 1189-1307' which is an attempt to provide a modern overview of the development of the law of debt during the period 1189-1307, with a particular focus on debts arising out of loans.
ISBN: 1842170732
P A Brand, 'Lordship and Learning: Studies in memory of Trevor Aston' in Stewards, Bailiffs and the Emerging Legal Profession in Later Thirteenth-Century England (The Boydell Press 2004) [...]
The career of one well-attested Norfolk local lawyer murdered in 1312 is used to explore the various functions performed by local lawyers in this period and the role of such lawyers in stimulating litigation and helping and advising litigants
ISBN: 1-84383-070-1
P A Brand, 'Petitions and Parliament in the Reign of Edward I' (2004) Parchment and People: Parliament in the Middle Ages 14 [...]
Examines the beginning of petitions to parliament in the reign of Edward I; their formal analyis; who the petitions were; and the evidence for how they were dealt with in early parliaments
ISBN: 748619755
P A Brand and others, 'The Mortmain Licensing System, 1280-1307' in Adrian Jobson (ed), English Government in the Thirteenth Century (Boydell Press 2004) [...]
Authoritative study of the beginnings of the system for central governmental licensing of all grants to the church created after the 1279 statute of mortmain
ISBN: 1843830566
P A Brand, The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, 1275-1504: vols I and II (The Boydell Press 2005) [...]
Edition and translation of the official records of the English parliament 1275-1307 with introductions to the surviving records and the parliaments of the period and appendices of related material
ISBN: 1-84383-161-9
Courses
The courses we offer in this field are:
Undergraduate
FHS - Final Year (Phase III)
The degree is awarded on the basis of nine final examinations at the end of the three-year course (or four years in the case of Law with Law Studies in Europe) and (for students who began the course in October 2011 or later) an essay in Jurisprudence written over the summer vacation at the end of the second year. Note: the Jurisprudence exam at the end of the third year is correspondingly shorter. This phase of the Final Honour School includes the first and second term of the final year; the Final Examinations are taken in the third term of the final year.
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This option studies the history of the principal features of the branches of law that are today known as tort, contract, land law, and trusts. The course is taught using a selection of primary sources (in translation where necessary) and of academic literature. Students are expected in the course of study to acquire knowledge of the sources of law and of the judicial system. The timespan covered is roughly between the fifteenth and the nineteenth century. This period, of course, contains a large number of separable issues, and the course is designed so that individuals can follow to some extent their own preferences, both amongst and within the major heads of study.
The examination paper contains an above average number of questions, (currently 12), which reflects this flexibility. The treatment of the subject is primarily legal, though the political, social and economic constituents in the story are referred to whenever this assists our perception of specifically legal ideas.
The teaching presumes a familiarity with the notions of property, tort and contract law and is virtually exclusively taught as a final year option. The legal history does not serve as an introduction to the modern law; if anything, the converse is the case. It is in this sense an advanced course; the feedback to the modern law is conceptual or theoretical, though a study of the history may occasionally illuminate a modern problem. There is, however, absolutely no need to have studied any other kind of English history, nor is familiarity with foreign languages necessary since the course is designed around translated materials.The course delivery will be on a ‘long thin’ model, entailing five two-hour seminars in each of Michaelmas and Hilary terms, generally co-taught by Dr Macnair and Dr Getzler, which will be focussed on primary texts. Each term will also contain three sets of tutorials, interspersed between the seminars and enabling students to research and write about controversies in connection with the main seminar topics. By close of Hilary students will have received ten seminars and six tutorials; in Trinity term there may be further revision seminars and classes in Weeks 1-3.
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Diploma in Legal Studies
A one-year sample of courses from our BA programmes, aimed only at students visiting from our partner universities.
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This option studies the history of the principal features of the branches of law that are today known as tort, contract, land law, and trusts. The course is taught using a selection of primary sources (in translation where necessary) and of academic literature. Students are expected in the course of study to acquire knowledge of the sources of law and of the judicial system. The timespan covered is roughly between the fifteenth and the nineteenth century. This period, of course, contains a large number of separable issues, and the course is designed so that individuals can follow to some extent their own preferences, both amongst and within the major heads of study.
The examination paper contains an above average number of questions, (currently 12), which reflects this flexibility. The treatment of the subject is primarily legal, though the political, social and economic constituents in the story are referred to whenever this assists our perception of specifically legal ideas.
The teaching presumes a familiarity with the notions of property, tort and contract law and is virtually exclusively taught as a final year option. The legal history does not serve as an introduction to the modern law; if anything, the converse is the case. It is in this sense an advanced course; the feedback to the modern law is conceptual or theoretical, though a study of the history may occasionally illuminate a modern problem. There is, however, absolutely no need to have studied any other kind of English history, nor is familiarity with foreign languages necessary since the course is designed around translated materials.The course delivery will be on a ‘long thin’ model, entailing five two-hour seminars in each of Michaelmas and Hilary terms, generally co-taught by Dr Macnair and Dr Getzler, which will be focussed on primary texts. Each term will also contain three sets of tutorials, interspersed between the seminars and enabling students to research and write about controversies in connection with the main seminar topics. By close of Hilary students will have received ten seminars and six tutorials; in Trinity term there may be further revision seminars and classes in Weeks 1-3.
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Postgraduate
BCL
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from common-law backgrounds
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Law and Society in Medieval England
This course offers an in-depth study of core areas of property and obligations law in later thirteenth and early fourteenth century England and their relationships - through legislative and judicial change and legal writing - to the medieval society of which they were part.
The topics covered are: law and the family; family settlements; lordship and ownership; property remedies; the enforcement of tenurial obligations; debts and securities; contracts, leases and property management; wrongs; problems of jurisdiction.
This course was formerly run as Legal History: Legislative Reform of the Early Common Law.
The materials studied are statutes, case reports, and treatises and instructional literature from the period, together with the modern academic literature on the topics. All the sources used are provided in translation, so that knowledge of Latin and French is not required. Prior knowledge of the history of English law is not required.
The primary teaching method is by eight fortnightly seminars running from mid Michaelmas to early Trinity terms.
This course is taught by Dr Paul Brand and Dr Mike Macair.
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MJur
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from civil law backgrounds.
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Law and Society in Medieval England
This course offers an in-depth study of core areas of property and obligations law in later thirteenth and early fourteenth century England and their relationships - through legislative and judicial change and legal writing - to the medieval society of which they were part.
The topics covered are: law and the family; family settlements; lordship and ownership; property remedies; the enforcement of tenurial obligations; debts and securities; contracts, leases and property management; wrongs; problems of jurisdiction.
This course was formerly run as Legal History: Legislative Reform of the Early Common Law.
The materials studied are statutes, case reports, and treatises and instructional literature from the period, together with the modern academic literature on the topics. All the sources used are provided in translation, so that knowledge of Latin and French is not required. Prior knowledge of the history of English law is not required.
The primary teaching method is by eight fortnightly seminars running from mid Michaelmas to early Trinity terms.
This course is taught by Dr Paul Brand and Dr Mike Macair.
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People
Legal History teaching is organized by a Subject Group convened by:
Mike Macnair: CUF Lecturer
in conjunction with:
Paul Brand: Professor of English Legal History
Joshua Getzler: Professor of Law and Legal History
Also working in this field, but not involved in its teaching programme:
Alexandra Braun: CUF Lecturer
Jeffrey Hackney: Retired. Formerly Fellow and Tutor in Law at Wadham and St Edmund Hall
Peter Hayward: Retired. Formerly Fellow of St Peter's
Charles Mitchell: Visiting Professor
Andelka Phillips: DPhil Law student
Stefan Vogenauer: Linklaters Professor of Comparative Law

