Frederick William Maitland
Today marks the 106th anniversary of the passing of Frederick William Maitland. His writings on the history of English law make him a figure worthy of remembrance. He was born in London on May 28, 1850, and spent most of his childhood in the county of Gloucestershire. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.
It was not until Maitland was in his thirties that his career as a legal historian began in earnest. Maitland was one of the thirteen founding members of the Selden Society, which focused on publishing works on English legal history. The society was appropriately named after John Selden who was a 17th century scholar of ancient English law. Of the twenty-one volumes published during Maitland’s lifetime, eight were written by Maitland himself. Some of his significant writings include Bracton’s Notebook (1887), The History of English Law before Edward I (1895), Roman Canon Law in the Church of England (1898), Domesday Book and Beyond (1897), and The Constitutional History of England (1908).
Beyond his writings, Maitland is also significant for his acquaintances. He worked closely with Sir Frederick Pollock, who graduated from Eton six years prior to Maitland. Sir Leslie Stephen, who was the father of Virginia Woolf and an author in his own right, was also a friend. Maitland eventually married Florence Henrietta, the niece of Stephen’s wife. Following Sir Leslie Stephen’s death, Maitland wrote his biography, The Life and Letters of Sir Leslie Stephen.
For more information on Frederick William Maitland and his contributions to legal history, read a short biography from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
