Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/680

 666 V. BENCH AND BAR still renders it a wealthy institution. After the lapse of five hundred years the buildings remain as they were designed by this greatest of art-loving prelates.^ It is sad to turn to the closing years of the king, whose reign began with the triumph of Cressy. He had had a long and in many ways glorious reign. His court had been the most splendid in Europe. The pageantry of knighthood had thrown its glamour over his reign. The spoil of France had enriched his people. But the ravages of the plague had almost ruined the nation. In the domain of law the prospect was dark. The king's mistress, Alice Ferrers, openly intrigued to influence the court's decision. She caused a general ordinance against women attempting the practice of the law. The heavy fees charged for writs in the chancery were the cause of bitter complaint. The royal council was accusing men and trying them without indictment. Justice was delayed by royal writs. The very judges of the land, it was charged, condescended to accept robes and fees from the great lords. One judge was convicted of taking bribes in criminal cases. The inefficacy of appeals was a crying evil, and it was complained that the judges heard appeals against their own decisions. All these various evils were to cause a grim reckoning in the next reign. But here we must close the period which began with the legislation of Edward I. and ended in such ignominy with his grandson's death in 1377. III. The Bronze Age of the Common Law: From the Death of Edward III. to the Death of Littleton ^ The period in legal history that reaches from the death of Edward III., in 1377, to the death of Littleton in 1481, may de Merton, Henry III.'s chancellor. Its exquisite chapel and noble hall are the work of that chancellor. Even Christ Church, which was long the most splendid college foundation in the world, is the work of Henry VIII.'s chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey. Magdalen, too, the loveliest of them all, is the work of William of Waynflete, " the right trusty and well beloved clerk and chancellor" of Henry VI. To these may be added Wadham at Oxford, founded from the estate left by a celebrated English judge, and Corpus Christi at Cambridge. • The Year Books for this period must be read in the Norman French (so called). Bellewe's Reports are Richard II.'s Year Books so
 * New College is equalled by Merton at Oxford, founded by Walter