A. W. B. Simpson

A history of the land law

An account of the historical development of the common law of landed property. Work published since the first edition (1961) is taken into account, and the treatment of the nineteenth century period has been enlarged.

A history of the common law of contract : the rise of the action of assumpsit

The Common Law is one of the two major and successful systems of law developed in Western Europe, and in one form or another is now in force not only in the country of its origin but also in the United States and large parts of the British Commonwealth and former parts of the Empire. Perhaps its most typical product is English Contract Law, developed continuously since the birth of the common law almost wholly by judicial decision. Although in its modern form primarily a product of the nineteenth century, the common law of contract as we know it developed around the action of assumpsit which evolved at the close of the fourteenth century, and many of its characteristic doctrines first emerged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This book, which takes the story up to 1677 (the date of Statute of Frauds) forms the first part of the history of contract law, and is written primarily from a doctrinal standpoint.

Oxford Essays in Jurisprudence, 2nd Series

These essays deal with central and controversial issues in jurisprudence. This volume emphasizes legal theory, and the collection will be of interest to students of and others involved with political philosophy as well as law students and philosophers.

The Early Constitution of the Inns of Court

I propose in this article to examine two questions: the original system of government of the Inns of Court and the original relationship between call to the bar and the right of audience in the Royal Courts. Primarily I shall be concerned with the first question: I shall deal with the history of call to the bar only incidentally, and I do so because the two subjects are intimately connected with each other.

Obscenity and the Law

At present the law governing ‘obscene’ material (one has to use some word to identify the subject matter of this paper, but I shall try to beg no questions) is covered by a disorderly and scattered body of law, ranging from the Vagrancy Act of 1824 through to the recent Protection of Children Act of 1978.2 Everybody agrees that it needs tidying up, if nothing else. The principal working controls are however limited to three areas.