2 - The Institutions of the Common Law in its First Formative Period

Abstract

This chapter reviews the working of institutions of the common law in its first formative period. The institutions in which the common law grew to maturity between the 13th century and the 16th revolved around the court of common pleas. The clearest view of them may be had, not by a chronological account of each but by considering their functions in relation to an action in that court. The first step was the purchase of the writ, and some knowledge of writs was, therefore, necessary to all concerned. The change in court is reflected in the literature. The count still has to be made, and formularies are still produced. But early attempts show the impossibility of dealing with the defendant's answer in the same kind of way, listing the answers available against each claim. The proximate cause of the ending of the yearbooks was the ending of the process they had come into being to record. Oral pleading collapsed under its own weight.