Preface

Summary

Maitland's famous comment in his equally famous Rede lecture that “law schools make tough law” has been often quoted, but little has been done to prove or disprove it for the period he discussed. The history, structure, and culture of the Inns of Court have been well studied, but little work has been done on the content of their teaching. Admittedly, the materials are unprepossessing, but they are voluminous, and they exert their own odd fascination, for they offer us the opportunity to understand how common lawyers were trained to think. Given the numerous roles that men trained at the Inns of Court played in sixteenth-century England, any insight into their understanding of the law, their role, and their society would seem to be of value. At the conclusion of this project I am not sure how much insight I have achieved into the lawyers, but I have come to truly appreciate Maitland's comment, and the depth and breadth of knowledge of the men who taught at the Inns of Court.

This was in many ways an unexpected project for me, and many people made it possible. My deepest thanks go to Ken Bartlett, who was an unending source of intellectual, moral, and practical support, and who gave freely of that most precious of all commodities, his time.