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Development and Experimentation in the Early Common Law Forms of Action: The Procedural Rules of Mort d'Ancestor and their Effect on Litigation in the Late Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries (2025)
Journal Article
Eves, W. (2025). Development and Experimentation in the Early Common Law Forms of Action: The Procedural Rules of Mort d'Ancestor and their Effect on Litigation in the Late Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries. Journal of Legal History, https://doi.org/10.1080/01440365.2025.2523756

This article considers the procedural design of the early common law action mort d'ancestor, introduced in 1176. It first considers how the action was developed to provide swift justice while also allowing the defendant (or 'tenant') adequate opportu... Read More about Development and Experimentation in the Early Common Law Forms of Action: The Procedural Rules of Mort d'Ancestor and their Effect on Litigation in the Late Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries.

The Norman Conquest in English History, Volume I: A Broken Chain?, by George Garnett (2024)
Journal Article
Eves, W. (2024). The Norman Conquest in English History, Volume I: A Broken Chain?, by George Garnett. The English Historical Review, 139(601), 1564-1566. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceae223

This book is the first volume of a study on the history of the Norman Conquest in English history. Together, Volumes One and Two will consider how historical interpretations of the Conquest were constructed and used from the late eleventh to the late... Read More about The Norman Conquest in English History, Volume I: A Broken Chain?, by George Garnett.

Common Law (2023)
Other
Eves, W. (2023). Common Law

The Common Law is a body of law, developed over time from the decisions and practices of courts, upon which the English legal system has developed. Through the impact of British colonial expansion, the English Common Law has also formed the basis of... Read More about Common Law.

Russell Sandberg, 𝐴 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐿𝑎𝑤: 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑤 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023), pp. xiii+280. £90 (hardcover). ISBN 9781107090583 (2023)
Journal Article
Eves, W. (2023). Russell Sandberg, 𝐴 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐿𝑎𝑤: 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑤 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023), pp. xiii+280. £90 (hardcover). ISBN 9781107090583. American Journal of Legal History, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajlh/njad016

Common Law, Civil Law, and Colonial Law (2021)
Book
Eves, W., Hudson, J., Ivarsen, I., & White, S. B. (2021). Common Law, Civil Law, and Colonial Law. Cambridge University Press (CUP). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108955195

Common Law, Civil Law, and Colonial Law builds upon the legal historian F.W. Maitland's famous observation that history involves comparison, and that those who ignore every system but their own 'hardly came in sight of the idea of legal history'. The... Read More about Common Law, Civil Law, and Colonial Law.

Introduction : situating, researching, and writing comparative legal history (2021)
Book Chapter
Eves, W., & Hudson, J. (2021). Introduction : situating, researching, and writing comparative legal history. In W. Eves, J. Hudson, I. Ivarsen, & S. B. White (Eds.), Common Law, Civil Law, and Colonial Law: Essays in Comparative Legal History from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Centuries (1-24). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108955195.001

This volume is a selection of essays taken from the excellent range of papers presented at the British Legal History Conference hosted by the Institute for Legal and Constitutional Research at the University of St Andrews, 10–13 July 2019. The theme... Read More about Introduction : situating, researching, and writing comparative legal history.

Collusive Litigation in the Early Years of the English Common Law: The Use of Mort D’Ancestor for Conveyancing Purposes c. 1198–1230 (2020)
Journal Article
Eves, W. (2020). Collusive Litigation in the Early Years of the English Common Law: The Use of Mort D’Ancestor for Conveyancing Purposes c. 1198–1230. Journal of Legal History, 41(3), 227-256. https://doi.org/10.1080/01440365.2020.1839692

The extent to which real actions such as mort d’ancestor were used collusively for conveyancing purposes in the early years of the English common law is subject to debate. This article first discusses why parties to a transfer of land might engage in... Read More about Collusive Litigation in the Early Years of the English Common Law: The Use of Mort D’Ancestor for Conveyancing Purposes c. 1198–1230.