Les Tenures de Monsieur Littleton: Ouesque Certain Cases Addes per Auters de Puisne Temps q́ux Cases vo Trouers Signes Ouesq; cest sSigne * al Commencem̃t, & al Fine de Chescun de Eux: au Fine que ne Poies eux Misprender pur les Cases de Monsieur Littleton; Pur quel Enconuenience, ils Fueront Derniermt̃ Tolles de cest Lieur. Et cy vn Foits Pluis Admonetes al Request des Gentlehomes, Students en la ley Dengleterre
by Sir Thomas Littleton
Sir Thomas Littleton, born in 1422, is well known as an early scholar of English Common Law. He had a significant legal career, serving as the Sheriff of Worcestershire, the Recorder of Coventry and Warwickshire, a Justice of Assize, a Judge of Court of Common Pleas, and as a Knight of the Bath.[1] It is believed that Littleton initially wrote his book on treatises to be a teaching tool for his son.[2] It was later published posthumously, and became "the most successful law book ever written in England[...]."[3] It is often credited as the "first important English legal text neither written in Latin nor significantly influenced by Roman (civil) law."[4] It was originally published in Law French, but was later translated into English.[5]
Littleton’s book remained a genuinely helpful tool for lawyers and law students for hundreds of years. "The key to the book’s success lay in the clarity of its style and the simplicity of its propositions."[6] It can be distinguished from other contemporaneous legal writings, because it taught the common law and basic legal reasoning with simplicity, and it maintained a "distinction between the theoretical and the vocational stages of legal education."[7] The book enjoyed massive success, and was printed in over ninety editions.[8]
Even after the law it taught became obsolete, Littleton’s "Treatises" maintained its role as an important legal text. Littleton remained "one of the first books placed in the hands of a law student [until Victorian times]."[9] In fact, the book’s value became intertwined with its historical significance, because of its useful insights into the origins of the legal system. The book can be understood "As the treasure-house of the profound and intricate learning in which the feudal law of the land was bodied forth, no one who has occasion to resort to it - whether the practicing lawyer or the earnest student - will feel that he can safely dispense with any of the aids to an understanding[...]."[10]
The time period of George Wythe’s legal education and legal career overlapped with the wide-spread use of Littleton’s "Treatises" in the field of legal education. It is possible that Wythe learned the law from Littleton, that he taught the law using Littleton, and that he used Littleton as a resource during his legal practice. As a legal professional in the 18th and 19th century, Wythe would have significant interest in holding a copy of Littleton’s book within his library.
| Littleton's Tenures | ||
 at the College of William & Mary. |
||
| Author | Sir Thomas Littleton | |
| Edition | Precise edition unknown | |
| Language | French | |
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Thomas Jefferson listed "Les tenures de Monsr. Littleton. p. f." in his inventory of Wythe's Library in the section of titles he kept for himself. He later sold a French version of Littleton's Tenures to the Library of Congress in 1815. In her Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Millicent Sowerby identifies this copy as the 1621 edition published in London.[11] George Wythe's Library[12] on LibraryThing notes Jefferson's copy but indicates "precise edition unknown." Brown's Bibliography[13] follows Sowerby and includes the 1621 edition. Unfortunately, Jefferson's copy no longer exists to verify the precise edition or Wythe's prior ownership.
See also
References
- ↑ The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, "Sir Thomas Littleton," Encyclopedia Britannica, Accessed October 28, 2025.
- ↑ J.H. Baker, "[Lyttleton] Littleton, Sir Thomas," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, last modified May 24, 2007, Accessed October 28, 2025.
- ↑ Baker, "[Lyttleton] Littleton, Sir Thomas."
- ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica, "Sir Thomas Littleton."
- ↑ Baker, "[Lyttleton] Littleton, Sir Thomas."
- ↑ Baker, "[Lyttleton] Littleton, Sir Thomas."
- ↑ Baker, "[Lyttleton] Littleton, Sir Thomas."
- ↑ Baker, "[Lyttleton] Littleton, Sir Thomas."
- ↑ Baker, "Lyttleton] Littleton, Sir Thomas."
- ↑ Review of Littleton’s Tenures: In English by Eugene Wambaugh, Columbia Law Review, December 1903, 600.
- ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, (Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1952-1959), 2:217 [no.1780].
- ↑ LibraryThing, s.v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on June 25, 2025.
- ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012, revised May, 2025) Microsoft Word file, on file at the Wolf Law Library.