List of early landmark court cases

This is a list of early significant and precedent setting judicial decisions in English law:

Anglo Norman cases

• Ealdred v High Sheriff of Yorkshire (c.1068)
• Wulfstan v Thomas (1070)^[1][2]
• R v Roger de Breteuil
• Trial of Penenden Heath (1071)^[3][4] regarded by some commentators as "one of the most important events in the early history of English Law because of the light it sheds on the relationship between Norman Law and English Law" with the trial being a possible indication of Norman respect for Anglo-Saxon legal history.^[5][3]
• Odo of Bayeux v Lanfranc (1071)^[6] appeal against the Trial of Penenden Heath and the first case known where the judge called on both Anglo-Saxon and Norman juristic experts.
• The King v Tavistock
• R v Ralph Breton (1075), one of the earliest reported criminal trials in English law.^[7][8]
• Abbot Scotland v Hamo the Sherrif (1076)^[9]
• Bishop Odo v Walter, Abbot of Evesham (1077)^[7][8]
• Walter v Saint Wulfstan.^[10]

Common Law cases (post 1154)

Magna Carta (1215)

• Furrer v Snelling (1220) early property and contracts precedent^[11]

Statute of Merton 1235

• Arundels Case 1250

Statute of Marlborough 1267^[12]

First Year Books published 1268^[13]

• John v Anon (1290) early Chancellry case in trusts.
• R v Roger^[14]
• Stapleton v Snayth^[15] established the first ratio of what would become duty of care with regard to property damage caused by waters.
• Beneyt v Brokkere (1358) established the first ratio of what would become duty of care with regard to damage caused by animals.
• Haxey's case^[16] is a leading case in English law that established the right to free speech within Parliament.^[17]
• Beaulieu v Finglam (1401) early tort case.^[18] establishing principle of liability.^[19][20]
• Case of the Thorns (1466)^[21] established a tort of trespass to property.^[22]
• Luckers Case'^[23]
• Carrier's Case (1473) duty of a bailee, right of forfeiture to the crown.
• R v Earl of Northumberland (1568) established royal prerogative on all gold deposits in the realm.^[24][25]
• Shelley's Case (1581) early case setting rules for future interests in real property and trusts
• Hext v Yeomans (1583)^[26][27] early defamation case wherein the Court found that slander do not lie upon inferences.
• Case of the Swans (1592) Exchequer of Pleas establishing wild animals, cannot be given by transfer.^[28][29]
• Eaton v Allen (1598) early defamation case.
• Mouse's case (1608), establish the defense of necessity in tort

References

1. Melville Madison Bigelow, Placita Anglo-normannica: Law Cases from William I. to Richard I. Preserved in Historical Records (Soule and Bugbee, 1881) pxxi.
2. Van Caenegem, ENGLISH LAWSUITS FROM WILLIAM I TO RICHARD I Vol.I. William I to Stephen.(Selden Society, 2010).
3. Extraordinary privilege: the trial of Penenden Heath and the Domesday inquest, by Alan Cooper, The English Historical Review, 1 November 2001
4. The Normans: The History of a Dynasty (2002) by David Crouch at Google Books
5. The Justification of the Conquest 2011-05-21 at the Wayback Machine from Conquered England Kingship, Succession, and Tenure 1066-1166 by George Garnett, Oxford University Press, 25 January 2007
6. Melville Madison Bigelow, Placita Anglo-normannica: Law Cases from William I. to Richard I. Preserved in Historical Records (Soule and Bugbee, 1881)p10.
7. Mike Ibeji, Treachery of the Earls, by Mike Ibeji, from "BBC History of the Normans".
8. Edward Augustus Freeman (1901). A Short History of the Norman Conquest of England. Page 113-114.
9. Melville Madison Bigelow, Placita Anglo-normannica: Law Cases from William I. to Richard I. Preserved in Historical Records (Soule and Bugbee, 1881).p36.
10. Melville Madison Bigelow, Placita Anglo-Normannica: law cases from William I to Richard I p16.
11. summary of Furrer v Snelling.
12. Statute of Marlborough (52 Hen 3)
13. T. F. T. Plucknett, A Concise History of the Common Law, 5th edition, (London and Boston, 1956), pp.260-261
14. R v Roger, St Nicholas, 4 Edw. II, before Payn Tibotot, justiciar of Chester (8 December 1310).
15. Stapleton v Snayth (1354) YB Pas 19, 32b-33a.
16. Haxey's case (1397) Rotuli Parliamentorum (iii) 434.
17. Adams and Stephens, Select Documents of English Constitutional History(1930)
18. Sir John Baker, Baker and Milsom Sources of English Legal History:Private Law to 1750 (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2010) 610.
19. Ian Fitzharris , Owners of dwelling liable for escape of fire to neighbour’s property arising from negligence of building contracto r.
20. Courtney Stanhope Kenny, A Selection of Cases Illustrative of the English Law of Tort (Cambridge University Press, 2014) p589.
21. Hulle v Oryng 1466 YB Mich 6 Ed 4, 7a pl 18 is;(1466).
22. The Thorns Case.
23. Luckers Case CASE LXX, Tr. 8 Jac. B. R. 10 Co. 130 L,, 13 1 it. 2 Cr. 424,
24. Williams, David (2003). "Gold, The Case of Mines (1568) and the Waitangi Tribunal". Australian Journal of Legal History. 7 (2): 157. Retrieved 20 December 2006.
25. Blainey, Geoffrey (1963). The Rush That Never Ended. Melbourne University Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-522-84557-6.
26. William Nelson, An Abridgment of the Common Law (Forgotten Books, 2017).
27. David Hoffman, A Course of Legal Study: Respectfully Addressed to the Students of Law in the United States (Sagwan Press, 2015)
28. Sir Edward Coke, The reports of Sir Edward Coke in thirteen parts.J. Butterworth and Son, 1826 page 83
29. Joseph Chitty, A treatise on the game laws and on fisheries. W Clarke 1812 page 834