Henry Spelman
historical figure · 2 works · 3 mentions · 3 anchored passages
Spelman · a Spelman
in the texts
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
Antiquarian cited for the etymology of bailiff.
The Latin ballivus occurs, indeed, in the laws of Edward the Confessor, but Spelman thinks it was introduced by a later hand.
See Spelman’s Glossary.
The Genius of the Common Law
Antiquarian scholar invoked as a hypothetical standard of scholarly method that Coke did not meet.
If Coke had been endowed with the scholarly method of a Spelman (to set up a mark more within reach than John Selden’s unique learning and judgment) we might perhaps have had a historical school before the Germans.