Fitzherbert

Fitzherbert, the most distinguished writer upon law in the reign of Henry VIII. He was first a serjeant, and some years after a judge, of the Common Pleas. The first book published by this learned author was his Grand Abridgment, printed in 1514 by Richard Pynson, of which in 1516 a second edition was printed by Wynkyn de Worde. In 1534 he published his Mew Natura Brevium, which ws reprinted in 1537. In 1541 we find The New Booke of Justyces of of Peace made by Anthony Fitzherbert, Judge, lately translated out of Frenche into Englishe. Of these, the Natura Brevium (nature of writs), which is an improvement of a more ancient work of the same nature and title, is by far the best known and most often cited. It is remarkable that this treatise on the nature and effect of the principal writs in the Register was published at a time when those writs were, many of them, going into disuse, and soon afterwards became obsolete.