The most striking feature of the treatise is, that it is based upon a collection of writs. Omitting the Introduction and the last book, on Pleas of the Crown, just one-third of the chapters into which it is divided consists of writs. These are of all kinds, directed to Lords’ Courts, to County Courts, and to Ecclesiastical Courts, as well as writs returnable in the King’s Courts. Later writers have made free use of writs, but here they are the skeleton of the whole treatise. They fulfil the function of judgment-rolls in Bracton’s book, and of decisions in Coke and later writers. The collection of these eighty writs must have been a work of several years, since some of the writs were certainly of rare occurrence. The Chief Justice, or his clerk, attested all the writs, and either of them had both opportunity and reason for making such a collection; hardly another man in the kingdom would have been likely to do it. A large part of the treatise is written in a crabbed and inelegant, though usually a clear style. In a few passages, however, near the beginning of the book, we find an elevation of thought and elegance of diction often admired and imitated. The Introduction, in particular, and the seventh chapter of the second book, in praise of the assize (which, according to tradition, Glanville had a hand in inventing, or, at least, in establishing), are worthy of a man “sapiens simul et eloquens”; in sharp contrast with other parts of the work, which indicate an author who “omnia regni novit jura,” but was surely “non eloquio pollens.” The first ten books of the treatise are carefully written, the commentary is full, the subject well developed. The last four books, on the other hand, seem to have been hurriedly thrown together. The proportion of writ to text is more than twice that in the preceding books; indeed, in the book devoted to the County Courts (in which Glanville had presided for years, and must have become as familiar with the law and procedure as with those of the King’s Courts), there is almost no comment. It seems possible that a proposed full commentary on the County Court practice, for which an elaborate collection of writs was at hand, was abandoned. The exact date of the work is fixed by the only two dated documents—two fines, of June 27 and about November 1, 1187. Fines were then novel, and they were described carefully. It seems likely that the passage, which occurs toward the end of the treatise, was written soon after the dates of enrollment. Both fines were enrolled in Glanville’s presence.