Absorbing reading for all interested in history in general and constitutional history in particular.

Publisher Comments

Category: Law This title is part of the Legal History, Constitution and International Law lists. Of Interest: The Framing of the Constitution of the United States The Making of the English Legal Profession, 1800 – 1988

The object of this book is to show the feudal origin of the English Constitution and the role of the Magna Carta in effectuating the transition from the fundamental principle of feudalism to the modern constitution. The history of the English Constitution is the history of America as much as it is the history of England. In fact, all monarchies that have adopted a constitution have derived their forms from it, and the same is true of most republics.

From the back cover blurb:

As stated by the author, the importance of the English Constitution in the political history of mankind is so great that the question of its origin should be considered one of the greatest and most absorbing of all historical studies. The history of the English Constitution is the history of America as much as it is the history of England. The object of the book is to point out the feudal origin of the English Constitution, and to show the actual function of the Magna Carta to effect the transition of the fundamental principle of feudalism into the principle of the modern constitution. This book will prove absorbing reading for all interested in history in general, and constitutional history in particular.

Original Reviews:

From the Spectator, Vol. 109, September 12, 1912:

An excellent book.

From the English Historical Review, Vol. 27, Oct. 1912:

This book is useful in more than one respect. It summarizes clearly enough the upshot of recent researches, ... It emphasizes the feudal character of the best-known clauses in the Magna carta. And here and there we find a new point ably argued."

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