Ranulf de Glanville

Ranulf de Glanvill, who died in 1190, served as chief justiciar of England under King Henry II, making him one of the most important royal officials of his time. Reliable sources agree that he played a major part in the administration of justice and government in late 12th-century England.

He is best known because the landmark legal work Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliae is traditionally attributed to him. That treatise is widely described as the earliest systematic work on English law, though some sources note that its exact authorship is uncertain.

Glanvill’s life ended while on crusade at Acre in 1190. Even where the details of his early life remain unclear, his name endures because of its close connection with the beginnings of English common-law writing.