
jhb16@cam.ac.uk
Downing Professor Emeritus of the Laws of England
K.C., LL.B., Ph.D. (Lond.), M.A., LL.D. (Cantab.), Hon. LL.D. (Chicago), F.B.A.;
Interests
English legal history, especially in the early-modern period: history of the legal profession and the inns of court; legal manuscripts
CV / Biography
Barrister (Inner Temple and Gray's Inn), Honorary Bencher (Inner Temple and Gray's Inn);
- Full bibliography in the Eminent Scholars Archive
Multimedia resources
- Treasures from the Inner Temple Library (Inner Temple 2023)
- John Selden: 'Liberty above all Things' (Temple Church 2022)
- Law in Time of Plague (Inner Temple 2021)
- YouTube Videos from www.reconstitution.org.uk.
- British Academy: Maccabaean lecture in Jurisprudence (November 2009)
Selected publications
Books
Sources of English Legal History: Public Law to 1750, 2024)
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
978-0199546794
Reports from the Notebooks of Edward Coke, vols. I-V (1572-1600), 2022)
English Law Under Two Elizabeths: The Late Tudor Legal World and the Present (The Hamlyn Lectures), 2021)

Publisher:
ISBN:
1108837964
ISBN 13:
9781108837965
An Introduction to English Legal History, 2019) 5th Edition
Publisher:
The Inns of Chancery 1340-1640, 2017)
Publisher:
The Reinvention of Magna Carta 1216-1616, 2017)
Publisher:
Selected Readings and Commentaries on Magna Carta 1400-1604 , 2015)
Publisher:
The Reports of William Dalison 1552-1558 , 2008)
Publisher:
The English Legal Manuscripts of Sir Thomas Phillipps , 2008)
Publisher:
A Catalogue of the Legal Manuscripts of Anthony Taussig (with A. Taussig), 2007)
Publisher:
Reports from the Time of Henry VIII, 2004)
Publisher:
Readings and Moots at the Inns of Court in the Fifteenth Century (with Samuel Thorne), 2000)
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9780854231638
The common law tradition : lawyers, books, and the law tradition, 2000)
A Catalogue of English Legal Manuscripts in Cambridge University Library , 1996)
Publisher:
Judicial Records, Law Reports, and the Growth of Case Law (ed), 1989)
Publisher:
Legal Records and the Historian (ed), 1978)
Publisher:
English Legal Manuscripts (vol. 2), 1978)
Publisher:
English Legal Manuscripts (vol. 1), 1975)
Publisher:
Collected Papers on English Legal History, 2013)
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9781107020436
The Men of Court 1440 to 1550: A Prosopograhy of the Inns of Court and Chancery and the Courts of Law, 2012)
Baker and Milsom's Sources of English Legal History, 2010) 2nd Edition
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
978-0-19-954680-0
An Inner Temple miscellany: papers reprinted from the Inner Temple yearbook, 2004)
The Oxford History of the Laws of England Volume VI, 2003)
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
978-0-19-825817-9
The Legal Profession and the Common Law: Historical Essays, 2003)
An Introduction to English Legal History, 2002) 4th Edition
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
978-0-40-693053-8
The Law's Two Bodies: Some Evidential Problems in English Legal History, 2001)
Publisher:
ISBN:
0199245185
ISBN 13:
978-0199245185
The Reports of John Caryll (Vols I & II) (ed), 1999)
Monuments of Endlesse Labours : English canonists and their work, 1300-1900, 1997)
John Spelman's Reading on Quo Warranto: Lectures Delivered in Gray's Inn (Lent,1519), 1997)
Publisher:
ISBN:
0 85423 219 2
Reports from the Lost Notebooks of Sir James Dyer (Vol 1 & 2) (ed), 1994)
Publisher:
English Legal MSS in the USA (Part II), 1990)
Readings and Moots at the Inns of Court (Vol II) (with Samuel Thorne) (eds), 1990)
Publisher:
Manual of Law French, 1990) 2nd Edition
The Notebook of Sir John Port (ed), 1986)
Publisher:
ISBN:
085423148X
English Legal MSS in the USA (Part I), 1985)
The Order of Serjeants at Law, 1984)
Publisher:
The Reports of Sir John Spelman (Vols I & II) (ed), 1976)
Publisher:
Articles
"David Yale" (2023) 21 Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy 425–43
Citation:
(2023) 21 Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy 425–43
Published: Apr 2023
Book Chapters
"[1. The Common Law], [2. Law Reports and Records], 5. Criminal Justice, 9. [The Legal Profession]" in J. Baker and Y. Kasai (ed(s)), An Introduction to Common Law, 2024), pp. 20-43, 44-78, 194-221, 310-329
Pages:
20-43, 44-78, 194-221, 310-329
Published Apr 2024
"Magna Carta" in E. Balogh (ed(s)), Golden Bulls and Chartas: European Medieval Documents of Liberties, 2023), pp. 195-207
Pages:
195-207
Published Apr 2023
"Custom and Usage", Halsbury’s Laws of England 5th edn, 2023), pp. 1-111
Pages:
1-111
Published Apr 2023