YEAR BOOKS

Year books: translation

These works were an important, if little known, part of early printing in England. However, the texts themselves are the work of unknown hands. It is thought that they were produced by law students, who took notes in the courts and organised them for teaching and, of course, for printing. William de Mechlinia was their earliest printer, but it was Richard Pynson who produced the largest sequence of these books when William ceased printing in 1490. They were closely studied both by students and practising lawyers. Manuscript copies date from the last quarter of the 13c. It is certain that they would have been widely available at the *Inns of Court. As a series, the year books continued until the 1530s. That they were well used can be seen in the marks and underlinings in copies, both MS and printed, to be found in law libraries today. -

Cf.Bracton; Tractatus de Legibus