William Cornish, Stuart Anderson, Raymond Cocks, Michael Lobban, Patrick Polden, Keith Smith, THE OXFORD HISTORY OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND, VOLUMES XI, XII, AND XIII, 1820–1914 Oxford: Oxford University Press (www.oup.com), 2010. Vol XI, 1820–1914, English Legal System. lxv + 1276 pp. Vol XII, 1820–1914, Private Law. cxxxi + 1190 pp. Vol XIII, 1820–1914, Fields of Development. lx + 1106 pp. ISBN 9780199258833. £450.

Published date01 January 2011
Pages138-143
Date01 January 2011
DOI10.3366/elr.2011.0006
Vol XI, 1820–1914, English Legal System

Volume XI is the first of three volumes which, exploring English legal history in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, bring to a close the “long cavalcade” of The Oxford History of the Laws of England. The existence of this monumental project in academic publishing stands as a testament to the life and vigour of legal historical research in Britain today. Its conclusion in three volumes devoted to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries can, moreover, only gladden the hearts of scholars of modern legal history, which has until recently received comparatively little attention.

In their “Manifest”, included at the front of the volume, the authors place the account which they render to us in the functional school of legal history, explaining that their aim is to trace the causes of legal change in the social, political, economic and religious changes which abounded in the period under consideration. To this end volume XI on the English legal system forms a precursor to the following two volumes, which are primarily devoted to a consideration of substantive legal developments. It provides the reader with an overview of the legal and institutional context within which the law was formed, evolved, and took shape. In fact, the scene-setting undertaken by volume XI is two-fold. Not only does it set the legal and institutional scene, but it also provides a more general portrait of the social, religious, political and economic character of Victorian England. As such, while parts two, three and four consider at length the evolution and reform of public law, the court system, and the professions in the period, part one seeks to convey a sense of the ideology and flavour of what is referred to as an industrializing society, and of the ways in which law's interactions with that society evolved over time.

It is impossible in the space of a short review to do full justice to a text containing such a plethora of ideas and such an abundance of information. Several key themes or facets of its account can, however, usefully be highlighted. The first of these is that this volume addresses at length several areas of modern legal history which, despite their significance, have been relatively neglected as the subject of legal historical research. Thus, while a number of legal historians have provided us with valuable accounts of developments in individual courts, Patrick Polden's account of the court system provides us with perhaps...

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