Historia Placitorum Coronæ

Historia Placitorum Coronæ or The History of the Pleas of the Crown is an influential[1] treatise on the criminal law of England, written by Sir Matthew Hale and published posthumously with notes by Sollom Emlyn by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling (the assigns of Edward Sayer), for F. Gyles, T. Woodward, and C. Davis in 1736.

[2] The book was published despite an instruction in Hale's will that none of his manuscripts was to be printed after his death, unless he had ordered the publication during his lifetime.

[3] This was defended by Emlyn on the basis that it was a work of enormous importance; that he appeared to have revoked this instruction in a codicil; and that, in any event, it was obvious that he had intended to publish it.

"[5] Sir J. F. Stephen, whose incisive criticisms of his predecessors' treatises did not err on the side of mercy,[6] said: "It is not only of the highest authority, but shows a depth of thought and comprehensiveness of design which puts it in quite a different category from Coke's Institutes.

[7] Stephen found, on the other hand, that it was marred by endless technicalities about principal and accessory, benefit of clergy, the precise interpretation of obscure phrases in statutes, and the law of procedure.