Selden, John (1584–1654). Selden, ‘the father of English legal history’, was one of the most distinguished antiquarians of Stuart England. A lawyer of the Inner Temple, he served as MP for Lancaster (1623), Great Bedwyn (1626), Ludgershall (1628), and in the Long Parliament of 1640 for the University of Oxford. Selden was born in Sussex of lesser gentry stock. He practised law, but his main interests were history and politics. From 1607 he issued a stream of learned works, mainly on legal history, of which a history of tithes (1617) is best known. His legal knowledge made him useful to the opposition to Charles I, when debates often turned on precedents. He took part in attacks upon the royal favourite Buckingham in 1626 and collaborated closely with Coke in 1628 on habeas corpus. The court took reprisals and from March 1629 to May 1631 he was imprisoned. In the early days of the Long Parliament he was a moderate and there were rumours that he might join the court. But he did not and in 1643 was put in charge of records in the Tower. Meanwhile, Selden continued to publish, including an important treatise on the law of the sea (1636) and another on the privileges of the baronage (1641). Many of his books and archives finished up in the Bodleian library. His Table Talk was published in 1689. Clarendon paid the highest tribute to his learning and kindness. The Selden Society was established in 1886 by Maitland and others to encourage the study of English law.

J. A. Cannon