The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I. Frederic William Maitland

of movables, Real and personal property

       Chapter V. Contract

      Late development of a law of contract, The real and the formal contract, Fides facta: the formal contract, The hand-grasp, The church and the fides facta, Oath and faith, The written document as a form, English law in the twelfth century, Medieval Roman law, The canon law, Evolution of a law of contract on the Continent, Influence of Roman and canon law in England, English law in the thirteenth century

      The pledge of faith, Fidei laesio and the church courts, Struggle between church and state, Pledged faith in ecclesiastical law, The king’s court and the pledge of faith

      The action of debt, The recognizance, The action of debt in Glanvill, Rarity of actions of debt, Proprietary character of the action, Debt and sale, Earnest and God’s penny, Law of sale, Scope of the action of debt, Doctrine of quid pro quo, Gratuitous gifts and promises in early law, Proof of debts, Damages in debt, Limit to the action

      The action of covenant, Covenants and leases, Scope of the action, Requirement of writing, Action of account, Covenants in the local courts, Sealed documents, History of documents, The single bond, Mercantile documents

      Assignment of debts, Agency in contract, Agency and “uses,”, Chattels held to the use of another, Lands held to the use of another, The use of lands, Feudalism and contract

       Note on the early history of the use

       Chapter VI. Inheritance

       § 1. Antiquities

      The history of the family: a controversial theme, The family as a unit, No clans in England, No permanent organization of the blood-feud group, That group not a permanent legal unit, The kindred as a local group, Landowning groups, The kindred no corporation

      The household and landownership Forms of co-ownership Relative antiquity of co-ownership and ownership in severalty, Co-ownership and aliquot shares, Birth-rights, History of birth-rights, Birth-rights and inheritance, Inheritance older than birth-rights, Antiquity of inheritance, Family ownership in England, Birth-rights in England, The restraint of alienation, Partition of inheritances, Appointment of heirs, Restraint of alienation before the Conquest, Last words on family ownership

      Nature of inheritance, Inheritance and representation of the dead, Representation in modern law, Representation in ancient times, Representation and religion, Inheritance of debts and credits, The inheritance need not descend in one mass, Transition to later law

       § 2. The Law of Descent

      Primary rules, Preference of descendants, Preference of males, Influence of feudalism, Primogeniture, Primogeniture before the Conquest, Primogeniture in Normandy, In later Norman law, In English law of the Norman age, The Anglo-Norman Leges, Primogeniture under the Angevins, In Glanvill and Bracton, Partible lands, Gavelkind, Disgavelling, Spread of primogeniture, Inheritance by co-heiresses, Co-heirs and parage, The law of parage, The lord’s interest in primogeniture, Inheritance of villein lands, Ultimogeniture, Origin of ultimogeniture, Impartible peasant holdings, The peasant’s one child

      Representation in inheritance, Influence of John’s accession, Casus Regis

      The exclusion of ascendants, The rule about lord and heir, The question in Glanvill, Effect of homage on inheritance, Why may not the lord inherit?, The leaning towards equality, Exclusion of the lord and exclusion of ascendants, The ascendants in Scottish law

      Inheritance among collaterals, The parentelic system, Rules for collaterals of the same parentela, Choice among ascending lines, Paterna paternis, materna maternis, Choice among admissible stocks, Worthiness of blood, The half-blood, Exclusion of the half-blood in modern law, Co-parcenery and partition, Limits of inheritance

      Restraint of alienation in favour of expectant heirs, Glanvill’s rules, The heir’s consent to conveyances, Disappearance of the restraint, Causes of the change, Rebutting effect of a warranty, Suddenness of the change

       § 3. The Last Will

      Germs of the last will, What is a will?, Ambulatory character of a will, Hereditative character of a will

      The Anglo-Saxon cwiðe, The post obit gift, The post obit gift and the royal land-book, The death-bed distribution, The written cwiðe, The right to bequeath, Wills and death-bed gifts, Intestacy in Cnut’s day, The lord and the cwiðe

      Norman law, The will under the Norman kings, Post obit gifts of chattels, Evolution of definite law

      Feudalism and wills of land, Post obit gifts in the Norman age, Post obit gifts of land condemned, The law in Glanvill, Testamentary power abolished in the interest of the heir, Attempts to devise land, Devisable burgages, Probate of burgage wills, Devises of chattels real

      The church and the testament, Progress of ecclesiastical claims, The church victorious, The lay courts and the last will, The will with executors, Origin of the executor, The executor in England and elsewhere, The medieval will, Its form, Its substance, The testator’s care for his soul, Usual clauses, Probate, Prerogative probate

      Control over executors, The executor in temporal courts, Executor and heir in Glanvill, Executor and heir in Bracton, The collection of debts, The executor as personal representative

      Limits of testamentary power, Legitim in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Legitim in Glanvill, Legitim in Bracton, Later history of legitim, The king’s court and legitim, The church courts and legitim, Legitim in wills, Review of the history of legitim

       § 4. Intestacy

      Horror of intestacy, Bracton on intestacy, Stories of intestacy, Desperation in Normandy, The bishop and the kinsfolk, Intestate succession, The administrator, The next of kin, Letters of administration, Separation of chattels from land, Heirlooms, Reviews

       Chapter VII. Family Law

       § 1. Marriage

      Antiquities, The act of marriage, Growth of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Victory of the church courts, Canonical doctrine of marriage, No ceremony requisite, Application of canon law in England, The Queen v. Millis, Law of the English church courts, The temporal law and marriage, Marriage and dower, Marriage and inheritance, Putative marriages, Recognition of de facto marriages, The marital possessorium, Reluctance to bastardize the dead, Possessory marriage in the temporal courts, Solemnization and possessory protection, Unprovable marriages

      The idea of marriage, Impediments to marriage

      Consanguinity, Prohibited degrees, Affinity, Marriage of infants, Age of the parties, Marriage of young children

      Divorce and nullity, Divorce from bed and board, Divorce and temporal law, A wife conveyed

      Bastardy, Mantle children, Presumptive paternity

       § 2 Husband and Wife

      Variety in the law of husband and wife, Community of goods, No community in England, English peculiarities, Community and equality

      Final form of the common law, (1) Wife’s land, (2) Husband’s land, (3) Wife’s chattels, (4) Husband’s chattels, (5) Husband’s liability, (6) Wife’s contracts

      Law in the thirteenth century; its general idea, Divorce of realty from personalty

      The wife’s land, Husband and wife in court, Husband’s rights in wife’s land, Alienation of wife’s land, The wife’s fine, The husband as guardian, Tenancy by the curtesy, Tenancy per legem Angliae, The law of England a courteous law, The widower’s free-bench, Feudalism and curtesy

      Dower, The maximum dower, Assignment of dower, Wife’s rights during marriage, Alienation by husband, The husband in litigation, Dower as a gift, Dower and the church, 4, The villein’s widow

      Chattels of husband and wife, Germs of a community, Husband’s death, Wife’s death, Wife’s testament, The husband’s intestacy, Rejection