Henry de Bracton

Henry of Bracton, also known as Henry de Bracton, Henricus Bracton, Henry Bratton or Henry Bretton, lived from about 1210 to about 1268 and was an English cleric and jurist. He is known for his writings on law, particularly De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae (On the Laws and Customs of England), and for his ideas on mens rea, or criminal intent, arguing that only through examining a combination of action and intention could the commission of a criminal act be established. He also wrote on kingship, arguing that a ruler should be called king only if he obtained and exercised power in a lawful manner, and in his writings he set out the law of the royal courts coherently by drawing on categories from Roman law, incorporating into English law several developments of medieval Roman legal thought.