Mr. Bolland, following in the steps of the late F.
W. Mait- land, has made many a modern reader understand why Serjeant Maynard, according to Roger North, " had such a relish of the old year books that he carried one in his coach to divert him in travel and said he chose it before any comedy."
ese mediaeval law reports, admirably printed with the English tranglation facing the Norman-preach and skilfully edited, are indeed profoundly interesting, whether to the historian or the lawyer or the student of human nature. One never knows what they will contain, besides the legal techni- calities which they were designed to preserve. Mr. Bo d, with all his patient labour in crabbed manuscripts, hal n eye for the humorous, and never fails to emphasize any passage which may illustrate the daily life of the mediaeval litigant. In his new volume he gives the year books iOr the
seventh year of Edward II., the unhappy year which elided
with Bannockburn. Counsel argue and ttle judges Intcatect criticisms very much as they do. now. Six centurieg ve passed without materially changing the tone and temper of the English courts. There I a queer case in which one Thomas had bound himself to 'pay ohe Robert an annuity of ten pounds until the said Robert " should be provided with a sufficient benefice which he was willing to accept." Robert got married and thus made himself ineligible for any benefice, but he claimed, nevertheless, that, as he had the option of refusing any benefice offered him by Thomas, he could go on drawing the annuity for the rest of his life. What happened to the unwary Thomas is not known. Mr. Bolland's intro- ductions are always illuminating. Here he discusses the many duties of the harassed mediaeval sheriff, the busiest and most unpopular man in his county. Mr. Bolland tells us also about mediaeval surnames, showing incidentally that married women often kept their own surnames and even transmitted them to their sons. Thus Elena Barker of Whitby in her will of 1402 described herself as the wife of John Hus- band but as the mother of John Barker.
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