An important book by a preeminent scholar of English legal history Using evidence drawn from the Year Books from 20 Edw. I to 20 Edw. III Plucknett analyzes the nature of early statutes as seen in the rules for their construction and their use in court. He shows that the early statutes were more legislative than declaratory, and were treated as such by the courts. "This is an essay of absorbing interest and of great value to historians of the law. Every page shows not only immense industry, but sound learning." --Law Quarterly Review 39:138-139 Theodore F. T. Plucknett [1897-1965] was a Fellow of the British Academy, Professor of Legal History in the University of London and author of A Concise History of the Common Law (1929). CONTENTS General Preface by H.D. Hazeltine Author's Preface Table of Statutes Table of Year Book Cases Sources List of Incipits Introduction. The Problem and the Evidence PART I. Legislation and Legal thought in the Early Fourteenth Century The Scope of the Discussion CHAP. I. Origins and Early Forms of Written Law CHAP. II. Text and Translation CHAP. III. The Legislature and its Place CHAP. IV. Statutes and the Common Law CHAP. V. Statutes and Ordinances CHAP. VI. Legal Thought PART II. Examples of Interpretation Arrangement and Grouping CHAP. I. General Words and Literal Construction CHAP. II. The Intention of the Legislature CHAP. III. "Exceptions out of the Statute" CHAP. IV. Refusal of the Courts to Apply Statutes CHAP. V. Extension of the Words of a Statute CHAP. VI. Strict Interpretation CHAP. VII. Conflict of Statutes CHAP. VIII. Ignorance of Statutes among Contemporary Lawyers CHAP. IX. The Retrospective Effect of Statutes CHAP. X.Judicial Discretion CHAP. XI.Statutes and the Common Law CHAP. XII.Statutes and the Royal Prerogative CHAP. XIII.Statutory Writs CHAP. XIV.The Interpretation of Particular Statutes Conclusion APPENDIX I. Texts of Statutes APPENDIX II. Select Cases Index