Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Editor's preface to the first edition -- Author's preface to the first edition -- Author's preface to the second edition -- Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- The concept of law -- The functions of law -- Disputing and negotiating -- English common law -- The formation of the English common law -- 2 The court framework in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman England -- The king's court -- Local and itinerant justices -- Shire courts -- Hundred courts -- Seignorial courts -- Urban courts -- Ecclesiastical courts -- Conclusions -- 3 Violence and theft in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman England -- Bricstan's case -- Offences, offenders, and motives -- Feud, vengeance, and royal control -- Prevention and police -- Trial -- Punishment and compensation -- Conclusions -- 4 Law and land in Anglo-Saxon England -- Æscwyn of Stonea, Ogga of Mildenhall, Wulfstan of Dalham and their gifts to the church of Ely -- The forms of land -- Land, lordship, and law -- The customary framework -- Disputes -- Conclusions -- 5 Law and land-holding in Anglo-Norman England -- Land, lordship, and law -- The forms of land-holding -- The customary framework: control of land held 'in fee and inheritance' -- Disputes -- Anglo-Norman land law and common law property -- Conclusions on legal development to 1135 -- 6 Angevin reform -- Kingship, Stephen's reign, and Angevin reform -- The eyre -- Chronology -- The stages and nature of reform -- Henry II and reform -- The administrator's mentality -- Conclusions -- 7 Crime and the Angevin reforms -- Ailward's case -- Classification -- The continuation of traditional methods -- Presentment and the extension of royal authority -- The limits of royal authority -- Conclusions -- 8 Law and land-holding in Angevin England -- Abbot Samson of Bury St Edmunds