page_title: Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie
section_title: In legal history
hierarchical_section_title: Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie / Descent / In legal history
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Frontespizio
context_page_description: The Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliae, often called Glanvill treatise, is the earliest treatise on English law. Attributed to Ranulf de Glanvill and dated 1187–1189, it was revolutionary in its systematic codification that defined legal process and introduced writs, innovations that have survived to the present day. It is considered a book of authority in English common law.
  Written for Henry II as the culmination of his long struggle to return the kingdom to peace and prosperity following years of anarchy, the Tractatus is fairly described as the means to implement Henry's objectives. It would be supplanted as a primary source of English law by the De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae of Henry de Bracton, which itself owes much of its heritage to the Tractatus.
  There has been debate over the actual author of all or parts of the Tractatus. The legal opinions of Glanvill's nephew, Hubert Walter are certainly cited. Whatever the case, Glanvill perhaps supervised and certainly approved the work, and the issue is sidestepped in the literature by using terminology such as "commonly attributed to Glanvill".
context_section_description: The writs and processes of the King's Court, together with the judicial organisation, are the germ of English common law. Similarly, the judicial oversight of property disputes through the use of writs are the germ for English land law. The option of the rational process of weighing evidence in a trial by jury would outlive all of its alternatives to become the only way to determine the "truth" of facts.
  Glanvill is cited copiously by name in books on English law, whether chronological histories or subject-oriented legal books, and in the latter where there are a number of references relevant to the topic at hand, he is cited as the earliest authority. Spelling variations of the name include Glanvil, Glanvill (the most common), and Glanville.
caption: 1932 edition of the Tractatus, edited by George E. Woodbine
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