The Selden Society is a

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

and

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

concerned with the study of English legal history. It functions primarily as a

text publication society A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of historical or literary interest, or archival documents. In addition to full texts, a text p ...

, but also undertakes other activities to promote scholarship within its sphere of interest. It is the only learned society wholly devoted to the topic of English legal history. The society takes its name from the eminent English jurist and legal and constitutional scholar,

John Selden John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned m ...

(1584–1654).

History and activities

The society was founded in 1887 by a group which included F. W. Maitland, who served as its first literary editor and personally edited eight volumes for the Society. The Society's first years were rocky: its treasurer, P. E. Dove, committed suicide in 1894, leaving behind a deficit of £1,000. Its principal activity is publishing historical records of

English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...

. Since its inception, a volume of significant texts has been published every year. It also publishes a supplementary series. The current president is Donald Cryan. The current literary director is Neil Jones, who succeeded

Sir John Baker John Baker or Jon Baker may refer to: Military figures *John Baker (American Revolutionary War) (1731–1787), American Revolutionary War hero, for whom Baker County, Georgia was named *John Baker (general) (1936–2007), Australian Chief of the ...

in this role in 2011. The secretary is

Michael Lobban Michael John Warrender Lobban, FBA (born 22 October 1962) is a South African legal historian. He has been a Senior Research Fellow at All Souls College since 2022, before which he was Professor of Legal History at the London School of Economics f ...

, Professor of Legal History at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. The society meets for an annual general meeting every year, and other meetings are held in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It often collaborates with the Ames Foundation at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. Membership of the society is open to anyone upon payment of a fee, and is primarily composed of educational institutions and interested individuals (mostly legal historians and lawyers).

Publications

Early volumes published by the society include: * * * ::This volume made use of

record type Record type is a family of typefaces designed to allow medieval manuscripts (specifically those from England) to be published as near-facsimiles of the originals. The typefaces include many special characters intended to replicate the various ...

, in an attempt to present the text in a near

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...

of the original manuscript sources. F. W. Maitland expressed reservations about the experiment, and it was not repeated. * * Volumes published in recent years include: * * * * * * * * * * * (2 vols)

Yale Prize

The David Yale Prize is awarded every other year to a young scholar (who has been engaged in research for no more than about 10 years) for an outstanding contribution to the laws and legal institutions of England and Wales. The award was set up in 1999 in honour of David Yale, FBA, Hon. Q.C., former President of the Selden Society. The prize has been awarded to: *1999 Thomas P. Gallanis for his article "The Rise of Modern Evidence Law" *2001 Daniel Klerman for his article "Settlement and the Decline of Private Prosecution in Thirteenth-Century England" *2003 Neil Jones for his article "The Use Upon a Use in Equity Revisited" *2007 Sara Elin Roberts for her book ''The Legal Triads of Medieval Wales'' (2007) *2013 Ian Williams *2017 Kenneth F. Duggan for his article "The Hue and Cry in Thirteenth-Century England" and Sean Bottomley for his book ''The English Patent System during the Industrial Revolution, 1700–1852'' (2014) (joint winners)

Patrons and officers

Patrons

* 1887:

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

* 1895: The Prince Wales (afterward

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

) * 1895: The Duke of York (afterward

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

) * 1895: Thomas F. Bayard * 1901:

* 1910:

* 1923: The Prince of Wales (afterward

King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

) * 1936:

* 1937:

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

* 1952: The Duke of Edinburgh * 2024:

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

Officers

Presidents

* 1887: The Lord Coleridge * 1895: The Lord Herschell * 1898: Sir Nathaniel Lindley * 1901: The Lord Macnaghten * 1904: The Lord Alverstone * 1907: Sir Robert Romer * 1910: Walter Charles Renshaw * 1913: The Viscount Haldane * 1916: The Lord Parker of Waddington * 1919: The Lord Sumner * 1922: Sir Thomas Rolls Warrington * 1925: The Viscount Cave * 1928: The Lord Hanworth * 1931: The Lord Atkin * 1934: The Lord Tomlin * 1935: Sir George John Talbot * 1936: The Lord Wright * 1940: Sir Wilfrid Arthur Greene * 1943: Sir Malcolm Martin Macnaghten * 1946: The Lord Uthwatt * 1949: Sir Cyril Thomas Flower * 1952: Sir Harry Bevir Vaisey * 1955: Sir Walter Leslie Farrer * 1958: Sir Cecil Thomas Carr * 1961: Sir Gerald Ritchie Upjohn * 1964: Arthur Lehman Goodhart * 1967: Sir Eric George Molyneux Fletcher * 1970: The Lord Diplock * 1973: Sir Richard William Southern * 1976: Sir Robert Edgar Megarry * 1979: Sir Godfrey William Rowland Morley * 1982:

Geoffrey Rudolph Elton Sir Geoffrey Rudolph Elton (born Gottfried Rudolf Otto Ehrenberg; 17 August 1921 – 4 December 1994) was a German-born British political and constitutional historian, specialising in the Tudor period. He taught at Clare College, Cambridge, and ...

* 1985: Stroud Francis Charles Milsom * 1988: Sir Ernest Irvine Goulding * ... * 1994: David Eryl Corbet Yale * 2018: Nicholas Peter Le Poidevin * 2022: Donald Michael Cryan

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * {{authority control 1887 establishments in England Legal history of England Learned societies of the United Kingdom History organisations based in London Scientific organizations established in 1887 Text publication societies Queen Mary University of London