Glanvill, Ranulf

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

Page 98

English COMMON LAW developed partly in response to the pioneering work of Ranulf Glanvill. As chief justiciar, Glanvill was the legal and financial minister of England under HENRY II. He is commonly associated with the first important treatise on practice and procedure in the king's courts: Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliae (Treatise on the laws and customs of the realm of England). Historians agree that Glanvill is probably not the author of the Tractatus, which first appeared circa 1188, but he is thought to have been instrumental in its creation. Early U.S. law owes much to ENGLISH LAW, which became greatly simplified and available to common people during Glanvill's tenure.

Glanvill was probably born at Stratford St. Andrew, near Saxmundham, Suffolk, England. Although few details are known about his life, it is recorded that he had bumpy political fortunes. He was sheriff of Yorkshire from 1163 to 1170, but lost his authority following an official inquiry into the corruption of sheriffs. He regained it by helping raise troops against Scottish invaders in 1173?74, and his reward from King Henry II was a series of increasingly important appointments: justice of the king's court, itinerant justice in the...