Book Reviews

Authors

Abstract

Students and teachers of law, as well as historically-minded practitioners -though the number of the latter is, alas, all too few-have long felt the need of a brief but adequate and authoritative account of the origin and growth of English legal institutions. Previous treatises, based on modern investigations, notably those of Pollock and Maitland and Holdsworth, are not only too exhaustive, but do not completely cover the ground. Convinced, like many others of the present day, "that a rich field of educational effort awaited development," Mr. Jenks, already well-known for his contributions to various aspects of the subject, has at -last come to the rescue. In his preface he tells us somewhat of the plan which 'he has followed, among other things, presenting convincing reasons why he has rejected the so-called "vertical" method, "by 'which the development of each existing institution is separately traced from its origin to its present form." This would, as he rightly contends, "either involve almost endless repetition or it would obscure one of the most important lessons to be learned from English legal history," that is, "an appreciation of the process by which specialized ideas," such as contract, tort, crimes, and even the distinction between substantive law and procedure, "have slowly detached themselves from those primitive notions of right and wrong which are the kernel of all systems of law."

Recommended Citation

Book Reviews, 11 Mich. L. Rev. 262 (1913).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol11/iss3/4