Matthew Hale

The History and Analysis of the Common Law of England Matthew Hale

Published anonymously, this highly respected work was the first history of the common law. Originally published: [London]: Printed by J. Nutt, 1713. [iii], 264, [12]; [xvi], 171 pp. Reprint of the first edition. Two parts, each with title page and individual pagination: The History of the Common Law of England: Divided into Twelve Chapters; The Analysis of the Law: Being a Scheme, Or Abstract, Of the Several Titles and Partitions of the Law of England, Digested into Method. A series of chronological essays drawn from Hale's manuscripts, it "give[s] us a clear statement of the history of some of the important external features of the common law... Sketch as it is his history is living history because its author had a clear view of its whole course" (Holdsworth, Sources and Literature of English Law 151-152).

Sir Matthew Hale [1609-1676] was a Judge of the Common Pleas, well-known for his History of the Pleas of the Crown.