(1) The mysterious medieval lawbook known as the _Mirror of Justices_ contains a chapter upon Magna Carta which has some claims to rank as a commentary, although it represents the opinions of a political pamphleteer rather than those of an unbiassed judge. The date of this treatise is still the subject of dispute. It has been usual to place it not earlier than the years 1307-27, mainly because it makes mention of “Edward II.” Prof. Maitland, however, dates it earlier, maintaining on general grounds that it was “written very soon after 1285, and probably before 1290.”[313] He explains the reference to “Edward II.” as applying to the monarch now generally known in England as Edward I., but sometimes in his own reign known as Edward II., to distinguish him from an earlier Edward, still enshrined in the popular imagination, namely, Edward Confessor. Mr. Maitland is not disposed to treat this work of an unknown author too seriously, and warns students against “his ignorance, political bias, and deliberate lies.”[314] ----- Footnote 313: See _The Mirror of Justices_ (edited for the Selden Society by Prof. Maitland), _Introd._, xxiii. to xxiv. Footnote 314: _Ibid._, xxxvii. _Cf._ xlviii. (2) Dismissing the _Mirror_, then, as a dangerous and possibly disingenuous guide, the earliest serious commentary known to exist is that of Sir Edward Coke, formerly Lord Chief Justice. This elaborate treatise, forming the second of Coke’s four _Institutes_, was published in 1642 under direction of the Long Parliament, the House of Commons having given the order on 12th May, 1641.[315] ----- Footnote 315: See _Dictionary of National Biography_, XI. 243. -----