The Mirror of Justices

The Mirror of Justices, also known in Anglo-Norman as Le mireur a justices^[3] and in Latin as Speculum Justitiariorum,^[4] is a law textbook^[5] of the early 14th century, written in Anglo-Norman French and traditionally attributed to Andrew Horn (or Horne). The original manuscript is in the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (manuscript identifier CCCC MS 258).^[6]

The Mirror of Justices

The title pages of Andrew Horn's Mirroir des iustices (1642, left),^[1] the first edition in Anglo-Norman and Latin; and The Mirror of Justices (1646),^[2] the first English translation

The work was published in 1642,^[1] based on a copy owned by Francis Tate and the Cambridge manuscript.^[7] In 1646 it was translated into English and printed together with Anthony Fitzherbert's The Diversity of Courts and their Jurisdictions.^[2] This version was republished in 1659^[8] and 1768.^[9] In 1895 the Selden Society published an edition of the work containing the Anglo-Norman text with a parallel English translation, and an extensive introduction by Frederic William Maitland.^[4]

See also

• Norman yoke

References

1. Andrew Horn (1642), La somme appelle Mirroir des iustices: vel Speculum Iusticiariorum, Factum per Andream Horne, London: Printed by E[dward] G[riffin] for Matthew Walbanke and Richard Best and are to be sold at their shops at Grayes Inne Gate, OCLC 84157087.
2. Andrew Horn (1646), The Booke Called, The Mirrour of Justices: Made by Andrevv Horne. With the Book, Called, The Diversity of Courts, and their Jurisdictions. Both Translated out of the Old French into the English Tongue. By W. H. of Grays Inne Esquire., W[illiam] H[ughes], transl. (1st English ed.), London: Imprinted ... for Matthew Walbancke at Graies Inne gate, OCLC 560061345.
3. Frankwalt Möhren (2007), "MirJustW [Andrew Horn, Mireur a justices]", Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français. Complément bibliographique 2007, Tübingen: M. Niemeyer (reproduced on the Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF) Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Romanisches Seminar, Heidelberg University), ISBN 978-3-484-50616-9, archived from the original on 22 December 2013.
4. Andrew Horn (1895), William Joseph Whittaker (ed.), The Mirror of Justices (Selden Society ed.), London: Bernard Quaritch, p. 1, OCLC 760967779
5. In Doe dem. Burtwhistle v. Vardill (1840) 6 Bing. (N.C.) 385 at 388, 133 E.R. 148 at 149–150, House of Lords (UK), Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas sitting as a judge of the House of Lords, said the Mirror of Justices was "perhaps the very earliest of our text books" and cited it for the "admitted principle" that "the common law only taketh him to be a son whom the marriage proveth to be so".
6. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library, CCCC MS 258, Digital Manuscripts Index, Stanford University, archived from the original on 25 September 2015, retrieved 25 September 2015.
7. George Crabb (1831), History of English Law; or an Attempt to Trace the Rise, Progress, and Successive Changes of the Common Law from the Earliest Period to the Present Time (1st American ed.), Burlington: Chauncey Goodrich, p. 225, OCLC 794710257.
8. Andrew Horn (1659), The Booke Called, The Mirrour of Justices: By Andrew Horne, to which is Added, the Book Called The Diversity and Jurisdictions of Courts, both now most exactly Rendred to more Ample Advantage out of the Old French into the English Tongue. By W. H. of Grayes Inne, Esquire, W[illiam] H[ughes], transl. (2nd English ed.), London: Printed for H[enry] Marsh at the Princes Armes in Chancery Lane neer Fleetstreet, OCLC 79567375.
9. Andrew Horn (1768), The Mirrour of Justices: Written Originally in the Old French, long before the Conquest; and Many Things Added, by Andrew Horne: To which is Added, The Diversity of Courts and their Jurisdiction. Translated into English by W. H. of Gray's Inn, Esq, W[illiam] H[ughes], transl. (3rd English ed.), London: Printed by His Majesty's law printers; for J. Worrall and B. Tovey, at the Dove in Bell Yard, near Lincoln's Inn, and P. Uriel, at the Inner Temple Gate, OCLC 642293338.