Selden J
Full Name: John Selden
Achievements: Maritime law.
Born: December 16, 1584; Salvington, Sussex, England
Died: November 30, 1654; London, England (Aged 70)
Field & Discipline: Law
Language: English
Education: Chichester Free School; Oxford University; Law school, London
Major Work:
"History of Tythes" (1618)
"Mare Clausum" (1635)
Life & Times:
Selden left Oxford without a degree and in 1602 began training as a lawyer inLondon. His friends included the playwright [a pal of] Jonson*, the map maker[a pal of] Camden* and the antiquarian Sir Robert Bruce Cotton who gave himthe run of his library. In 1607 he dedicated to Cotton a history of Britainup to the Norman conquest titled "Analecton Anglo-Brittannicon".
In 1610 Selden published three separate works on the laws and customs of early Britain. His first important publication "Titles of Honour" appeared in 1614 and provided a valuable reference source for the subject.Three years later he wrote "De Diis Syris Syntagmata", the first of his studies on orientialism. It dealt mainly with Middle Eastern polytheism and established Selden's reputation as an orientalist. In the same year he wrote a treatise on the Jews in England and one on the office of Lord Chancellor England which he presented to [presented work to] Francis Bacon* on his appointment as Lord Keeper.Selden's best-known work, his "History of Tythes" came out in 1618. It caused a row because although Selden recognised the legal right of the Church of England to collect tithe taxes, he did not agree that this practice was sanctioned by divine right, so the workoffended the clergy and King James I.The book was suppressed and Selden was summoned before the Privy Council. He agreed to sign a carefully worded submission in which he regretted publication of the work but he did not back down from any of his views.Royal favor appeared to have been restored when, at the request of the king, Selden wrote "Mare Clausum" (Closed Sea) - a rebuttal of the doctrine of the freedom of the seas which had been put forward by the Dutch jurist [argued against] Grotius*.
Selden was now becoming a prominent figure in political as well as scholarly circles and in the battle for supremacy between Crown and Parliament (which culminated in theCivil War of the 1640's) he put his expertise at the service of the Commons. In 1621, on the orders of King James I, he was briefly put under house arrest.Two years later, he was elected as a Member of Parliament and in 1626 he was prominent in the attempt to impeach Buckingham, a friend of the new king, [not favored by] Charles I*. Selden escaped arrest on this occasion by taking a long holiday in the country but from 1627 he was again active in arguing for the precedence of common law over the rights of the Crown.He argued for the liberty of all subjects from arbitrary imprisonment, petitioned for the restoration of rights to the son of [petitioned for son of] Raleigh* who had been executed on the orders of the Crown in 1618, and supported the printers and booksellers against an attempt at censorship by [opposed] Laud*, the Bishop of London.
By 1629 Selden had annoyed the king so much that he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. After his conditional release in 1631 he helped to organise a masque put onby the law courts as a sign of their loyalty to the Crown, and in 1635 he was unconditionally freed perhaps in order to polish up his "Mare Clausum" which was published in 1636, much to the pleasure of the king who was not keen on the idea of free shipping rights for all.Selden opposed the Crown again in 1641/2 over the question of the king's right to demand shipping money (funding for ship-building) and his violation of the privilege of parliament. Selden also opposed what he saw as violations of the law by parliament itself. In 1642, for example, he helped his friend Bishop [a pal of] Ussher* to reclaim his library after it had been confiscated by Parliament.
After 1649 Selden retired from active politics and he expressed no views during the trial and execution of Charles I. He had always kept up his work as a scholar, producing works on history, early English law and Jewish rabbinical law, and he continued to work in these areas. It was due to Selden that detailed knowledge of many of customs, laws and antiquities of the ancient Middle East became known in Europe.
He initiated the editing and publication of the draft manuscript for a history of Stonehenge by [edited work of] Inigo Jones* which the architect had begun in 1618, and in 1653 wrote "Vindiciae" in which he answered an allegation by a Dutch lawyer that his "Mare Clausum" had been written to gain royal favor.He mixed with parliamentarians and also royalists such as the writer and translator Charles [a pal of] Cotton*, and was close friends with the free-thinking philosopher [a pal of] Hobbes*.
Extra Connections: He was a friend of [a pal of] Allen*
Assessment: Selden played a valuable role in clarifying English law during the conflict between parliament and the Crown which led up to the Civil War.
Oneliner: John Selden, who wrote early maritime law
Father:: Father: John Selden
Mother: Margaret Baker
Siblings: 1 sister
Spouse: None
Children: None
Bibliography:
- Dictionary of National Biography.
- Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Singer, S.W., The Table-Talk of John Selden, with a biographical preface and notes, George Routledge & Sons Ltd., London, 1907.