Bracton

Bracton, Henry de, law writer, flourished in the 13th century. His birth-place is variously ascribed to Bratton Clovelly, near Okehampton, Bratton Fleming, near Barnstaple, and Bratton Court, near Minehead, Somersetshire. After studying at Oxford, and occupying the position of justice itinerant for the counties of Nottingham and Derby, he became, in 1264, archdeacon of Barnstaple, and chancellor of Exeter cathedral. It is, however, as the author of De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae, that he is distinguished. He died in 1268.