Christopher St. German and the Law of Custom

Christopher St. German (ca. 1460-1540) has been described as author of the critical discussion of common law of any substance to be published.' That is saying a great deal. So favorable an estimate must take it as a given that Bracton and Fortescue and Littleton were not critical enough of common law to count. However, description cannot possibly have meant 'critical' in ordinary sense, as in way that, say, Jeremy Bentham was critical of common law. Bentham pointed to many imperfections he saw in common law and proposed schemes for their reform.2 St. German, by contrast, was no detractor of English law's merits. The description must instead have meant 'critical' in sense of standing somewhat outside common law and examining its meanings and its worth. In that sense of word, St. German may have some claim to title first critic. He did purport to examine English law from outside. He did not merely extol its excellence or state its rules. And even if one concludes that he does not take palm among impartial observers, his work deserves attention of all students of history of English common law-not least because he wrote on dawn of development of law from its medieval form to form that emerged from its renaissance during sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.' The book upon which St. German's reputation chiefly rests is known as Doctor and Student, although it was by no means his only learned work. Its main part appeared in 1528, and additions to it were