MAITLAND, FREDERIC WILLIAM

born May 28, 1850, London, Eng. died Dec. 19, 1906, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain English jurist and historian of English law whose special contribution was to bring historical and comparative methods to bear on the study of English institutions. Educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1873; M.A., 1876), Maitland studied law at Lincoln's Inn, London, and was called to the bar (1876). After practicing in London, he became reader in English law (1884) and professor (1888) at Cambridge. His best-known work, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I, 2 vol. (1895), was written with Sir Frederick Pollock; it became a classic, widely cited simply as Pollock and Maitland. Among Maitland's other writings are Bracton's Note-Book (1887), an edition of the noted 13th-century English jurist Henry de Bracton's collection of cases; Roman Canon Law in the Church of England (1898); and English Law and the Renaissance (1901). He also edited several volumes published by the Selden Society, which he and others founded (1887) for the study of English law.