The Selden Society is a learned society and registered charity concerned with the study of English legal history. It functions primarily as a text publication society, but also undertakes other activities to promote scholarship within its sphere of interest. It is the only learned society wholly devoted to the topic of English legal history.

The society takes its name from the eminent English jurist and legal and constitutional scholar, John Selden (1584–1654).

History and activities The society was founded in 1887 by a group which included F. W. Maitland, who served as its first literary editor and personally edited eight volumes for the Society. The Society's first years were rocky: its treasurer, P. E. Dove, committed suicide in 1894, leaving behind a deficit of £1,000.

Its principal activity is publishing historical records of English law. Since its inception, a volume of significant texts has been published every year. It also publishes a supplementary series.

The current president is Donald Cryan. The current literary director is Neil Jones, who succeeded Sir John Baker in this role in 2011. The secretary is Michael Lobban, Professor of Legal History at the London School of Economics. The society meets for an annual general meeting every year, and other meetings are held in the United States and Australia. It often collaborates with the Ames Foundation at Harvard Law School.

Membership of the society is open to anyone worldwide upon payment of a fee, and is primarily composed of educational institutions and interested individuals (mostly legal historians and lawyers).

Publications Early volumes published by the society include:

This volume made use of record type, in an attempt to present the text in a near facsimile of the original manuscript sources. F. W. Maitland expressed reservations about the experiment, and it was not repeated.Kiralfy and Jones 1987, pp. 22, 34.

Volumes published in recent years include:

(2 vols)

Yale Prize The David Yale Prize is awarded every other year to a young scholar (who has been engaged in research for no more than about 10 years) for an outstanding contribution to the laws and legal institutions of England and Wales. The award was set up in 1999 in honour of David Yale, FBA, Hon. Q.C., former President of the Selden Society. The prize has been awarded to:

1999 Thomas P. Gallanis for his article "The Rise of Modern Evidence Law" 2001 Daniel Klerman for his article "Settlement and the Decline of Private Prosecution in Thirteenth-Century England" 2003 Neil Jones for his article "The Use Upon a Use in Equity Revisited" 2007 Sara Elin Roberts for her book The Legal Triads of Medieval Wales (2007) 2013 Ian Williams 2017 Kenneth F. Duggan for his article "The Hue and Cry in Thirteenth-Century England" and Sean Bottomley for his book The English Patent System during the Industrial Revolution, 1700–1852 (2014) (joint winners)

Patrons and officers

Patrons 1887: Queen Victoria 1895: The Prince Wales (afterward King Edward VII) 1895: The Duke of York (afterward King George V) 1895: Thomas F. Bayard 1901: King Edward VII 1910: King George V 1923: The Prince of Wales (afterward King Edward VIII) 1936: King Edward VIII 1937: King George VI 1952: The Duke of Edinburgh 2024: King Charles III

Officers

Presidents 1887: The Lord Coleridge 1895: The Lord Herschell 1898: Sir Nathaniel Lindley 1901: The Lord Macnaghten 1904: The Lord Alverstone 1907: Sir Robert Romer 1910: Walter Charles Renshaw 1913: The Viscount Haldane 1916: The Lord Parker of Waddington 1919: The Lord Sumner 1922: Sir Thomas Rolls Warrington 1925: The Viscount Cave 1928: The Lord Hanworth 1931: The Lord Atkin 1934: The Lord Tomlin 1935: Sir George John Talbot 1936: The Lord Wright 1940: Sir Wilfrid Arthur Greene 1943: Sir Malcolm Martin Macnaghten 1946: The Lord Uthwatt 1949: Sir Cyril Thomas Flower 1952: Sir Harry Bevir Vaisey 1955: Sir Walter Leslie Farrer 1958: Sir Cecil Thomas Carr 1961: Sir Gerald Ritchie Upjohn 1964: Arthur Lehman Goodhart 1967: Sir Eric George Molyneux Fletcher 1970: The Lord Diplock 1973: Sir Richard William Southern 1976: Sir Robert Edgar Megarry 1979: Sir Godfrey William Rowland Morley 1982: Geoffrey Rudolph Elton 1985: Stroud Francis Charles Milsom 1988: Sir Ernest Irvine Goulding ... 1994: David Eryl Corbet Yale 2018: Nicholas Peter Le Poidevin 2022: Donald Michael Cryan

References

Bibliography

External links