Book Description

The Leges Henrici Primi or Laws of Henry I is a legal treatise, written between 1114 and 1118, by an unknown Norman, that records the legal customs of medieval England in the reign of King Henry I of England. Although it is not an official document, it was written by someone apparently associated with the royal administration. It lists and explains the laws, and includes explanations of how to conduct legal proceedings. Although its title implies that these laws were issued by King Henry, it lists laws issued by earlier monarchs that were still in force in Henry's reign; the only law of Henry that is included is the coronation charter he issued at the start of his reign. It covers a diverse range of subjects, including ecclesiastical cases, treason, murder, theft, feuds, assessment of danegeld, and the amounts of judicial fines. The book offers a clear image of the beginning of Common Law. This treatise identifies itself as a record of the laws from the time of Henry I, and is made up of original descriptions of contemporary law, edited selections from pre-conquest legal texts, and additional source materials. The law code recognised the difference in the laws of the Danelaw, the old Kingdom of Mercia, and the lands of the Kingdom of Wessex. It seems probable that this treatise was the work of the translator responsible for the Quadripartitus. The translator of that collection promised to produce a further book on contemporary law, and a significant portion of the material in the Quadripartitus is deployed in the Leges. However, the Leges also drew on the author's personal knowledge of the law's operations. The second longest legal treatise or code produced before 1154, the Leges' contents treat almost all matters of law and its administration. Voir : Speculum, Vol. 49, No. 3, Jul., 1974, p. 556-557.