The evolution of English common law
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The English Year Books
The English Year Books are the primary law reports of medieval
England, capturing oral arguments and judicial reasoning from roughly 1268 to
1535. Written in Law French, they were compiled by anonymous scribes, students,
or practitioners. Rather than recording formal, final court judgements—which
were kept on official Latin plea rolls—the Year Books captured the dynamic
intellectual debates between serjeants-at-law and judges.
They served as working notes and educational tools, likely
compiled originally by law students, teachers, and professional scribes, to
record oral arguments, pleadings, and judicial decisions from the Court of
Common Pleas.
The reigns of Edward II (1307–1327) and Edward III (1327–1377)
represented the formative golden age of the Year Books, charting the period
when English common law crystallised into a recognisable, professionalised
system.
Index to the English Year
Books
Year Book of Edward II (1315).
Year Book for 17 Edward III (1343
to 1344).
William de Machlinia printed some of the
earliest individual Year Books around 1481–1482, followed extensively by
printers like Richard Pynson and Richard Tottel in the 16th century.
The traditional multi-volume Vulgate or Maynard edition was
published in 1678–1680.