Eighteenth-Century Professorial Classification of English Common Law
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This chapter assesses the work of Sir Robert Chambers by comparing it with that of other professors of English law. It focuses on the analytical structure Chambers gave to English law. The first part briefly discusses the early history of university lectures and, in particular, the adoption of the structure of Justinian’s Institutes. This is followed by an account of the problems encountered by professors of English law in setting forth their subject, and of the solutions they adopted. The third section provides a detailed analysis of the structure Chambers used for his lectures in comparison with that used by Blackstone. This is followed by some general conclusions and observations.