[2] Legal historian Patrick Wormald noted that in the manuscript it is presented as an "extension of III [Æthelred]" along with tracts on Pax ("peace") and Walreaf ("corpse robbery").

[5] In the 19th century, it was editorially divided into nine "chapters" and categorised as the fourth set of statutes surviving from the reign of King Æthelred the Unready,[6] but in recent years it has been interpreted as representing two different underlying legal sources, with distinct subject matters.

[11] The provisions in IV Æthelred A are of great importance for understanding the early commerce of London, comparable with Continental sources like Raffelstetten customs regulations for tolls on the River Danube.

[20] Historian Rory Naismith described this part of the textual tradition as a "series of tenth-century decrees on currency crimes" and "the most detailed statement on this topic to survive from Anglo-Saxon England".

[21] The text is key in showing the roles and duties of royal officials (such as reeves and ealdormen) in protecting the coinage and preventing the spread of poor quality coins.