Sir Thomas Littleton
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Sir Thomas de Littleton or de Lyttleton KB SL(c. 1407–23 August 1481) was an English judge,
undersheriff An undersheriff (or under-sheriff) is an office derived from ancient Kingdom of England, English custom that remains in, among other places, England and Wales and the United States, though performing different functions. United States In Policing ...
, Lord of Tixall Manor, and legal writer from the
Lyttelton family The Lyttelton family (sometimes spelled Littleton) is a British nobility, British aristocratic family. Over time, several members of the Lyttelton family were made knights, baronets and peers. Hereditary titles held by the Lyttelton family inclu ...
. He was also made a
Knight of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...
by
King Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
.


Early life

Thomas de Littleton was the eldest son of Elizabeth Littleton, sole daughter and heiress of Thomas de Littleton, Lord of
Frankley Frankley is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire. The modern Frankley estate is part of the New Frankley civil parish in Birmingham, and has been part of the city since 1995. The parish has a population of 122. History Frankley is li ...
, Worcestershire, and Thomas Westcote or Heuster, esquire, chief
prothonotary A prothonotary is the "principal clerk of a court," from Late Latin, L.L. ''prothonotarius'' (Wiktionary:circa, c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the Byzantine E ...
of the Court of Common Pleas. The date of Littleton's birth is uncertain; a MS. pedigree gives 1422, but it was probably earlier than this. If, as is generally accepted, he was born at Frankley Manor, it could not have been before 1407, in which year Littleton's grandfather recovered the manor from a distant branch of the family. Elizabeth Littleton and Thomas Westcote had four sons. Thomas, the eldest son and heir, took his mother's surname, likely as a condition of her marriage settlement, as heir to the manor of Frankley. Two of his brothers, Nicholas and Guy, retained the surname Westcote. Nicholas Westcote married Agnes Vernon, the daughter and heiress of Edmund Vernon, and was an ancestor of the Westcotes of Staffordshire, while Guy Westcote married the daughter of one Greenevill of Gloucestershire and was an ancestor of the Westcotes of Devon and Somerset.


Career

He attended the grammar school attached to the monastery in Worcester. Thus, he is cherished as an alumnus by both descendant educational institutions, today's
Royal Grammar School Worcester The Royal Grammar School Worcester (also known as RGS Worcester and RGSW) is an 11-18 co-educational, private day school and sixth form in Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Founded before 1291, it is one of the oldest British independent day ...
and The King's School Worcester. He is said by Sir
Edward Coke Sir Edward Coke ( , formerly ; 1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He is often considered the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and Jacobean era, Jacobean eras. Born into a ...
to have "attended one of the universities," but there is no corroboration of this statement. He was probably a member of the Inner Temple and lectured there on the statute of
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
, i.e., Donis Conditionalibus. His name appears in the
Paston Letters The ''Paston Letters'' are a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impo ...
(ed. J. Gairdner, p. 60) about 1445 as that of a well-known
counsel A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with various issues, particularly in legal matters. It is a title often used interchangeably with the title of ''lawyer''. The word ''counsel'' can also mean advice given ...
, and in 1481/2 he received a grant of the manor of Sheriff Hales, Shropshire, from
Sir William Trussell ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part of ...
as a reward for his services as counsel. . Sometime before 1468, he purchased Tixall Manor from John Merston, who married an heiress of the De Wasteney family who had previously owned the manor. After Littleton's death, his granddaughter Joan inherited the manor. She married Sir John Aston of Haywood, and the manor would remain in the hands of the Aston family for many generations. He appears to have been
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of
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in 1450; he was made
Escheator Escheat () is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to ...
of
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
, and in 1447/8 he was under-sheriff of the same county; he became sergeant-at-law in 1453 and was afterwards a Justice of Assize on the northern circuit. In 1466, he was made a judge of the
common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...
pleas and, in 1475, a knight of the Bath. He died, according to the inscription on his tomb in
Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England cathedral in Worcester, England, Worcester, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Worcester and is the Mother Church# ...
, on August 23, 1481.


Marriage and issue

Littleton married, before Easter term 1447, Joan Burley (died 22 March 1505), widow of Sir Philip Chetwynd (died 10 May 1444) of
Ingestre Ingestre is a village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 194. It is four miles to the north-east of the county town of Stafford. ...
, Staffordshire, and daughter and coheiress of William Burley, esquire,
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...
, of Broncroft in
Corvedale The River Corve is a minor river in Shropshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Teme which it joins in the town of Ludlow, and which joins the River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. ...
, Shropshire, by his first wife, Ellen Grendon, daughter and co-heiress of John de Grendon of Gayton, by whom he had three sons and two daughters: ''Burke's Peerage'', 1938, p. 608; Magna Charta Sureties, 1215, 4th rd., by F. L. Weis, p. 113. * Sir William Littleton (1450–1507), knighted after the Battle of Stoke, was a lawyer at the
Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...
. He married first Ellen Walsh, daughter of William Walsh of
Wanlip Wanlip is a small village and civil parish in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood district of Leicestershire, with a population measured at 305 at the 2011 census. It is a countryside village, north of Birstall, Leicestershire, Birstall, and wes ...
, and then Mary Byron, daughter and coheir of Richard Byron of Clayton, by whom he had a daughter, Joan Littleton, who married Sir John Aston of Haywood. He married secondly Mary Whittington, the daughter of William Whittington of
Pauntley Pauntley is a village and civil parish in the district of Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. In 2019 it had a population of 304. School Pauntley Church of England Primary School is located at the top of Poolhill. History The name "Pa ...
, Gloucestershire, by whom he had his son and heir, John Littleton (c. 1499–17 May 1532), and a daughter, Anne Littleton, who married Thomas Rouse of
Ragley Ragley Hall in the parish of Arrow, Warwickshire, Arrow in Warwickshire is a stately home, located south of Alcester and west of Stratford-upon-Avon. It is the ancestral seat of the Seymour-Conway family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of H ...
in Warwickshire. By an unknown mistress, he had an illegitimate son, William Littleton ''alias'' Lodge, who was the father of Sir Thomas Lodge, Lord Mayor of London. * Richard Littleton (died 1517) was a lawyer at the
Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...
. He married Alice Winnesbury. * Thomas Littleton (died 1524) was a lawyer at
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...
. He married Anne Botreaux. * Ellen Littleton died unmarried. * Alice Littleton died unmarried. Through his three sons, he became an ancestor of the families holding the peerages of Cobham (formerly Lyttelton) and Hatherton. His eldest son and heir, Sir William Littleton, became an ancestor of the Lyttelton Baronets, who later acquired the title
Baron Lyttelton Baron Lyttelton is a title that has been created once in Peerage of England and twice in Peerage of Great Britain, both times for members of the Lyttelton family. Since 1889 the title has been a subsidiary title of the Viscount Cobham, viscountc ...
of Frankley. His second son, Richard Littleton, became the founder of another wealthy dynasty, later to become the Littleton Baronets and later Barons Hatherton, through marriage into the Wynnesbury family of
Pillaton Hall Pillaton Hall was an historic house located in Pillaton, Staffordshire, near Penkridge, England. For more than two centuries it was the seat of the Littleton family, a family of local landowners and politicians. The 15th century gatehouse is th ...
, near
Penkridge Penkridge ( ) is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire, South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of Stafford, north of Wolverhampton, west of Cannock, east of Telford and south-east of Newport, Shro ...
, Staffordshire. His youngest son Thomas's descendants became another line of Littleton baronets, named for Stoke Milburgh, Shropshire.


''Treatise on Tenures''


Background

His '' Treatise on Tenures'' was probably written after he had been appointed to the bench. According to tradition it is addressed to his second son, Richard, who went to the bar, and whose name occurs in the year books of the reign of Henry VII; it has however been argued that the words ''mon filz'' (my son) were simply a conventional way of addressing law students. The book, both historically and from its intrinsic merit, may be characterised as the first text-book upon the English
law of property Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land) and personal property. Property refers to legally protected claims to resources, such as land and personal property, including intellectual prop ...
. The law of property in Littleton's time was mainly concerned with rights over land, and it was the law relating to this class of rights that Littleton set himself to digest and classify. The time was ripe for the task: ever since the
Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
, regular courts of justice had been at work administering a law that had grown out of an admixture of Teutonic custom and of
Norman feudalism Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
. Under
Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...
, the courts had been organised, and the practice of keeping regular records of the proceedings had been carefully observed. The centralising influence of the
royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word ''court'' may also be app ...
s and of the justices of assize, working steadily through three centuries, had made the rules governing the law of property uniform throughout the land; local customs were confined within certain prescribed limits, and were only recognised as giving rise to certain well defined classes of rights, such, for instance, as the
security of tenure Security of tenure is a term with multiple meanings according to jurisdiction. In Australia, it is used in political science to describe a constitutional or legal guarantee that a political office-holder cannot be removed from office except in ex ...
acquired by villains by virtue of the custom of the manor, and the rights of freeholders, in some towns, to dispose of their land by will. Thus, by the time of Littleton ( Henry VI and
Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
), an immense mass of material had been acquired and preserved in the rolls of the various courts. Reports of important cases were published in the "year books". A glance at Statham's Abridgment, the earliest digest of decided cases, published nearly at the same time as Littleton's Tenures, is sufficient to show the enormous bulk that reported cases had already attained as materials for the knowledge of English law.


Language

Littleton's treatise was written in that peculiar dialect compounded of
Norman French Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a '' langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical and cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to describe the administrative languages of '' Angl ...
and English phrases called ''
law French Law French () is an archaic language originally based on Anglo-Norman, but increasingly influenced by Parisian French and, later, English. It was used in the law courts of England from the 13th century. Its use continued for several centur ...
''. Although it had been provided by a
statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...
of
Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...
III that ''
viva voce ''Viva voce'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "with living voice" but most often translated as "by word of mouth." It may refer to: *Word of mouth *A voice vote in a deliberative assembly *An oral exam ** Thesis defence, in academia *Spoken ev ...
'' proceedings in court should no longer be conducted in the French tongue, "which was much unknown in the realm," the practice of reporting proceedings in that language and of using it in legal treatises lingered till a much later period and was, at length, prohibited by a statute passed in the time of the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
in 1650.


Sources

Unlike the preceding writers on English law, Glanville,
Bracton Henry of Bracton (c. 1210 – c. 1268), also known as Henry de Bracton, Henricus Bracton, Henry Bratton, and Henry Bretton, was an English people, English Catholic priest, cleric and jurist. He is famous now for his writings on law, particular ...
, and the authors of the treatises known by the names of Britton and
Fleta ''Fleta'' is the name of an early treatise on the common law of England. It was written in Latin with the sub-title ''seu Commentarius juris Anglicani''. The anonymous author of the book is sometimes referred to as "Fleta", although this is not in ...
, Littleton borrows nothing from the sources of
Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...
or the commentators. He deals exclusively with English law. The first two books are stated, in a note to the table at the conclusion of the work, to have been made for the better understanding of certain chapters of the "Ancient Book of Tenures." This refers to a tract called The Old Tenures, said to have been written in the reign of
Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
. By way of distinguishing it from this work, Littleton's book is called in all the early editions "Tenores Novelli."


Method

The book is written on a definite system and is the first attempt at a scientific classification of rights over land. Littleton's method is to begin with a definition, usually clearly and briefly expressed, of the class of rights with which he is dealing. He then proceeds to illustrate the various characteristics and incidents of the class by stating particular instances, some of which refer to decisions that had actually occurred, but more of which are hypothetical cases put by way of illustration of his principles. He occasionally refers to reported cases. His book is thus much more than a mere digest of judicial decisions; to some extent, he pursues the method that gave Roman law its breadth and consistency of principle. In Roman law, this result was attained through the practice of putting hypothetical cases to
jurisconsult A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a legal practitione ...
s hypothetical cases to be solved by them. Littleton, in like manner, is constantly stating and solving, by reference to principles of law, cases that may or may not have occurred in actual practice.


Contents

In dealing with freehold estates, Littleton adopts a classification that has been followed by all writers who have attempted to systematize the English law of land, especially
Sir Matthew Hale Sir Matthew Hale (1 November 1609 – 25 December 1676) was an influential English barrister, judge and jurist most noted for his treatise ''Historia Placitorum Coronæ'', or ''The History of the Pleas of the Crown''. Born to a barrister and ...
and
Sir William Blackstone Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, justice, and Tory politician most noted for his '' Commentaries on the Laws of England'', which became the best-known description of the doctrines of the English ...
. It is indeed the only possible approach to a scientific arrangement of the intricate "estates in land" that were known to English law. He classifies estates in land by reference to their duration, or, in other words, by reference to the differences between the persons who are entitled to succeed upon the death of the person in possession, or "tenant." First of all, he describes the characteristics of tenancy in simple terms. In Littleton's time and until the present day, it was the largest interest in land known to the law. Next in order comes tenancy in
fee tail In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust, established by deed or settlement, that restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents that property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise ali ...
, the various classes of which are sketched by Littleton with brevity and accuracy, but he is silent as to the important practice, which first received judicial recognition shortly before his death, of "suffering a recovery," whereby, through a series of judicial fictions, a tenant in fee tail was enabled to convert his estate tail into a fee simple, thus acquiring full power of alienation. After discussing, in their logical order, other freehold interests in land, he passes to interests in land that were called by later writers interests less than freehold, namely, tenancies for terms of years and tenancies at will. With the exception of tenancy from year to year, now so familiar to us but which was a judicial creation of a date later than the time of Littleton, the first book is a complete statement of the principles of the common law, as they, for the most part, existed until 1925, governing and regulating interests in lands. The first book concludes with a very interesting chapter on copyhold tenures, which marks the exact point at which the tenant—by copy-of-court-roll, the successor of the
villein A villein is a class of serfdom, serf tied to the land under the feudal system. As part of the contract with the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields in return for land. Villeins existe ...
, who, in his turn, represented the freeman reduced to villeinage by the growth of the manorial system—acquired security of tenure. The second book relates to the reciprocal rights and duties of lord and tenant and is mainly of historical interest to the modern lawyer. It contains a complete statement of the law as it stood in Littleton's time relating to homage, fealty, and escuage, the money compensation to be paid to the lord in lieu of military service to be rendered to the king, a peculiar characteristic of
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
as distinguished from
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feudalism. Littleton then proceeds to notice the important features of tenure by knight's service, with its distinguishing incidents of the right of
wardship In law, a ward is a minor or incapacitated adult placed under the protection of a legal guardian or government entity, such as a court. Such a person may be referenced as a "ward of the court". Overview The wardship jurisdiction is an ancient ju ...
of the lands and person of the infant heir or heiress, and the right of disposing of the ward in marriage. The non-military freehold tenures are next dealt with: we have an account of "
socage Socage () was one of the feudal duties and land tenure forms in the English feudal system. It eventually evolved into the freehold tenure called "free and common socage", which did not involve feudal duties. Farmers held land in exchange for ...
tenure," into which all military tenures were subsequently commuted by a now unrecognized act of the
Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...
in 1650, afterwards reënacted by the well-known statute of Charles II (1660), and of "frankalmoign", or the spiritual tenure by which churchmen held. In the description of
burgage tenure Burgage is a medieval land term used in Great Britain and Ireland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town ("borough" or "burgh") rental property (to use modern terms), owned by a king or lord. The property ("burgage tenement ...
and tenure in villeinage, the life of which consists in the validity of ancient customs recognized by law, we recognize survivals of a time before the iron rule of feudalism had molded the law of land in the interests of the king and the great lords. Finally, he deals with the law of rents, discussing the various kinds of rents that may be reserved to the grantor upon a grant of lands and the remedies for recovery of rent, especially the remedy of distress. The third and concluding book of Littleton's treatise deals mainly with the various ways in which rights over land can be acquired and terminated in the case of a single possessor or several possessors. This leads him to discuss the various modes in which several persons may simultaneously have rights over the same land, such as parceners (daughters who are co-heiresses, or sons in
gavelkind Gavelkind () was a system of land tenure chiefly associated with the Celtic law in Ireland and Wales and with the legal traditions of the English county of Kent. The word may have originated from the Old Irish phrases ''Gabhaltas-cinne'' or '' ...
), joint tenants, and tenants in common. Next follows an elaborate discussion of what are called estates upon condition—a class of interests that occupied a large space in the early common law, giving rise, on one side, to estates tail and, on the other, to mortgages. In Littleton's time, a mortgage, which he carefully describes, was merely a conveyance of land by the tenant to the mortgagee, with a condition that, if the tenant paid the mortgagee a certain sum on a certain day, he might return and have the land again. If the condition was not fulfilled, the interest of the mortgagee became absolute, and Littleton gives no indication of any modification of this strict rule, such as was introduced by courts of equity, permitting the debtor to redeem his land by payment of all that was due to the mortgagee, although the day of payment had passed and his interest had become, at law, indefeasible. The remainder of the work is occupied with an exposition of a miscellaneous class of modes of acquiring rights to property, the analysis of which would occupy too much space. The work is thus a complete summary of the common law as it stood at the time. It is nearly silent as to the remarkable class of rights that had already assumed vast practical importance—equitable interests in lands. These are only noticed incidentally in the chapter on "Releases." But it was already clear in Littleton's time that this class of rights would become the most important of all. Littleton's own will, which has been preserved, may be adduced as proof of this assertion. Although nothing was more opposed to the spirit of Norman feudalism than that a tenant of lands should dispose of them by will, we find Littleton directing, by his own will, the "feoffees" (trustees) of certain manors to make estates to the persons named in his will. In other words, in order to acquire over lands powers unknown to the common law, the lands had been conveyed to feoffees who had full right over them according to the common law, but who were under a conscientious obligation to exercise those rights at the direction and for the exclusive benefit of the person to whose "use" the lands were held. This conscientious obligation was recognized and enforced by the
Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...
, and thus arose the class of equitable interests in lands. Littleton was the first writer on English law after these rights had risen into a prominent position, and it is curious to find to what extent they are ignored by him.


Editions

The first edition of ''The Tenures'' appeared in 1481 or 1482, being one of the earliest books printed in London and the earliest treatise on
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, ...
printed anywhere. The second edition was printed about 1483 in London, and the third about 1490 in
Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...
. These editions and many others were in the original French. In 1766 (second edition 1779) David Hoüard, a Norman advocate, published the Tenures under the title of ''Anciennes Loix des François conservées dans les coutumes angloises'', arguing that they were derived from, and thus the best evidence for, early French customary law. There have also been many editions in English. In 1628,
Edward Coke Sir Edward Coke ( , formerly ; 1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He is often considered the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and Jacobean era, Jacobean eras. Born into a ...
published ''The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. Or, a Commentary upon Littleton, Not the Name of a Lawyer Onely, but of the Law Itselfe'', commonly called "Coke Up on Littleton." There have been about 25 editions of Coke upon Littleton and about 90 editions of ''The Tenures'' without the commentary. With or without commentary, ''The Tenures'' formed an important part of legal education for almost three centuries and a half and is still cited in the courts of England and the United States as an authority on the feudal law of real estate.
Eugene Wambaugh Eugene Wambaugh (February 29, 1856 – August 6, 1940) was an American legal scholar. Biography Eugene Wambaugh was born on a farm near Brookville, Ohio on February 29, 1856, to Rev. A. B. Wambaugh and Sarah Wells Wambaugh. He was educated ...
wrote a learned introduction to the 1903 edition of ''The Tenures'' (Washington).


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

*


External links

* *
''Littleton's Tenures''
online version {{DEFAULTSORT:Littleton, Thomas De 15th-century English judges English legal writers Knights of the Bath People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester People from Bromsgrove District 1400s births 1481 deaths Justices of the common pleas Serjeants-at-law (England)
Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...