Book excerpt: This collection discusses the contributions of great common-law jurists and singular documents - namely the Magna Carta and the Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts - that have shaped common law, from its origins in twelfth-century England to its arrival in the American colonies. Featured jurists include such widely recognized figures as Glanvill, Francis Bacon, Sir Edward Coke, and John Selden, as well as less-known but influential writers like Richard Hooker, Michael Dalton, William Hudson, and Sir Matthew Hale.