The History of the Doctrine of Consideration in English Law: Being the Yorke Prize Essay for the Year 1891

Jenks, Edward. The History of the Doctrine of Consideration in English Law (Being the Yorke Prize Essay for the Year 1891). London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1892. [viii], 225 pp. Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-399-5. Cloth. $95. * Jenks [1861-1939] defines the doctrine of consideration as it was practiced in the 1890s and traces its evolution to its origins in the twelfth century. He argues "the doctrine of consideration was apparently unknown to the Roman jurists.... It came into English law purely as a matter of accident, as an incidental consequence of a special manner of proof; and it was not until it was familiar in this capacity that men perceived its value as a doctrine of substantive law." (pp. 224-225) The work of no single mind, this evolutionary process demonstrated that "the English nation, while it has perhaps produced few individual lawyers of genius, has in its corporate capacity manifested something like an unconscious genius for law." (p. 225) "This little book is very suggestive, and well worth the attention of any one who cares for the history of the law.": G.R.P., Harvard Law Review VI:324 cited in Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 419.