A Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language: Collected from Such Acts of Parliament, Parliament Rolls, Journals, Acts of State, Records, Law Books, Antient Historians, and Manuscripts

Kelham, Robert. A Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language; Collected From Such Acts of Parliament, Parliament Rolls, Journals, Acts of State, Records, Law Books, Antient Historians, and Manuscripts, as Relate to this Nation. Calculated To Illustrate the Rights and Customs of Former Ages, the Forms of Laws and Jurisprudence, the Names of Dignities and Offices, of Persons and Places; and to Render the Reading of Those Records, More Easy; As Well as Restore the True Sense and Meaning of Many Words, Hitherto Deemed quite Obscure or Mistranslated. To Which are Added The Laws of William the Conqueror, With Notes and References. London: Printed For Edward Brooke, 1779. viii, 259 pp.; xii, 88 [i.e. 90] pp. Two books in one volume, each with separate title page. Reprinted 2007 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-719-9. ISBN-10: 1-58477-719-2. Cloth. $95.

* Facsimile of the first edition. This pioneering work was not superseded until the twentieth century, and it helped to initiate serious inquiry into early English law texts. Joseph Story used it when he studied the Year Books. In 1843 it was reprinted and appended to Bouvier's Law Dictionary. The second part containing the laws of William the Conqueror is printed in three columns containing the text in Norman, Latin translations by a Dr. Wilkins and English translations by Kelham. "Though far from complete, it is the best work of the kind": Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 435.