Thomas de Littleton

1407 (age 74)

Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom

He is mentioned about 1445, in the Paston Letters, as a well-known counsel, and in 1481 he received, from a Sir William Trussel, a grant of the Manor of Sheriff Hales, Shropshire, in return for his services as counsel. Littleton was recorder of Coventry in 1450, and in 1453 was sergeant at arms. Later he was justice of assize on the northern circuit. He was appointed judge of the court of common pleas in 1466. Littleton's Treatise on Tenures (first printed in 1481 or 1482), one of the ten earliest books printed in England, was the first attempt at a scientific classification of the laws dealing with rights over land and gives a precise account of English medieval land law, from which much of the common law derives. The first volume of the Institutes (1628) of Sir Edward Coke is a commentary upon the Tenures.

Thomas de Littleton Edit Profile

judge author

Background

He was born probably at Frankley House, Worcestershire, about 1407. Thomas was the eldest of his three brothers.

Education

He attended the grammar school attached to the monastery at Worcester.

Career

He is mentioned about 1445, in the Paston Letters, as a well-known counsel, and in 1481 he received, from a Sir William Trussel, a grant of the Manor of Sheriff Hales, Shropshire, in return for his services as counsel. Littleton was recorder of Coventry in 1450, and in 1453 was sergeant at arms. Later he was justice of assize on the northern circuit. He was appointed judge of the court of common pleas in 1466.

Littleton's Treatise on Tenures (first printed in 1481 or 1482), one of the ten earliest books printed in England, was the first attempt at a scientific classification of the laws dealing with rights over land and gives a precise account of English medieval land law, from which much of the common law derives. The first volume of the Institutes (1628) of Sir Edward Coke is a commentary upon the Tenures.

Achievements

Treatise on Tenures is the most important his work. It was written in that peculiar dialect compounded of Norman French and English phrases called law French. The work is a complete summary of the common law as it stood at the time.

Membership

Littleton was probably a member of the Inner Temple.

Connections

Littleton married Joan Burley (d. 22 March 1505). He had three sons and two daughters.

Father:: Thomas Westcote or Heuster alias Littleton
Mother:: Elizabeth Littleton
Spouse:: Joan Burley
child:: Sir William Littleton (1450–1507)
child:: Ellen Littleton
child:: Richard Littleton (d. 1517)
child:: Alice Littleton
child:: Thomas Littleton (d. 1524)

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