Bracton's Theory Of Law

Bracton was one of the greatest jurists in the history of English law. His legal career was mainly in reign of Henryâ…¢. The mature development of Common law, the perfection of the King's Bench and the forming of the legal profession class provide the foundation of the birth of Bracton's theory of law. This article introduces Bracton's theory of law and the character and influence of Bracton's theory of law, discusses the value and the importance of Bracton's theory of law to the history of English law.This article has three sections, which are (1) Bracton and his book, (2) Bracton's theory of law and (3) the character and the influence of Bracton's theory of law.The first section is"Bracton and his book". it introduces the Bracton's life and its background first. He was the judge of the King's Bench. Secondly, this section introduces his two pieces of works. He had selected more than 2,000 cases of royal courts, and had compiled them into the book Bracton's Note Book. The second book is On the Laws and Customs of England which summarized the common law of England. This book has great influence to English law and wins great reputation.The second section is"Bracton's theory of law". This section introduces Bracton's theory of law in the aspects of jurisprudence, the procedure law, the constitution law, the pleas of the crown, the law of persons, the law of things, law of obligations and actions and the land law. Bracton used the principles and terms of Roman law to explain the basic concepts of law. He wrote the procedure law by discussing all kinds of writs and actions. His constitutional idea was that"the king must not be under man but under God and under the law, because law makes the king". He discusses crimes under the subject of the pleas of the crown. He put the English law into the law of persons and the law of things by using the principles and terms of Roman law. He discusses the law of obligations and the law of actions together. The land law was also an important part in his theory.The third section was"the character and influence of Bracton's theory of law". This section discusses three characters of Bracton's theory: his theory is a summary of English the common law; his theory is largely influenced by Roman law and his theory is greatly related to practice. And this section discussed the influence of Bracton's theory of law. In the end of the rapid development period, Bracton summarised its achievements and brought them to lawyers of generations. His use of precedent has great importance to English case law system. He inherited the rule of law tradition of England, and made his contribution to the forming of parliamentary supremacy. His theory has different status in different period of English law, in general, his theory not only has great influence to the development of English law, but also great influence to the history of England.