The ornament of the Common Law. Lyttleton, His Treatise of Tenures, in French and English. A New Edition, Printed From the Most Ancient Copies, And Collated With the Various Readings of the Cambridge MSS. To Which Are Added The Ancient Treatise of the Olde Tenures, And the Customs of Kent. Originally published: London: S. Sweet, 1841. lv, [1], 727 pp. Hardcover. New. With index. Parallel text in Law-French and English. Written during the reign of Edward IV [1442-1483], Littleton’s Tenures was much admired for its learning and style. It is concerned with the doctrines of old English Common Law regarding the tenures of real estate as well as issues related to real property. This venerable work, which Coke called the ornament of the Common Law, and the most perfect and absolute work that ever was written in any humane science, is a considered a landmark because it renounced the principles of Roman law in favor of a set of guidelines and doctrines drawn from the Year Books, and when necessary, hypothetical cases.

Sir Thomas Littleton [1402-1481] was a King’s Serjeant, Judge of Assize and Justice of the Common Pleas.

T.E. Tomlins [1804-1872] was a notable legal writer and antiquarian. His is best known for his Popular-Law Dictionary (1838). (He is confused sometime with his uncle, Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, the prolific legal writer and editor of the later editions of Jacob’s Law-Dictionary.)