Page:Laws of the Earliest English Kings.djvu/9



ORE than eighty years have elapsed since an English edition of these Laws appeared, and great as were the merits of Thorpe's work, I think it will be generally agreed that a new edition is now required—not only because of the additions which have been made to the knowledge of the subject, but also because the work in question has long been out of print and is now accessible to but few readers.

A substantial advance in certain respects was made by R. Schmid's edition, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, especially the second edition which appeared in 1858. Latterly, all previous editions have been eclipsed by F. Liebermann's great work (under the same title), which will long remain the standard authority on the subject.

This book makes of course no attempt to compete with Liebermann's edition. For those who desire to make a study of the texts and their history, or to enter into a full discussion either of the Laws themselves or of the terms which are employed therein, the latter is indispensable. There are however, I am sure, many English readers interested in the early social and constitutional history of our country, who through ignorance of German are unable to use more than the text of the Laws in Liebermann's work, and many others who, though they may know German, cannot but be hampered by the very fulness of the material offered and at the same time by the conciseness with which the editor's explanations are expressed. It is primarily for such students that the present work is intended. But I would not let this opportunity pass without expressing my deep sense of the obligations laid upon me—as upon all students of our early history—by Professor Liebermann's monumental work. a 3