lay-public

Updated: May 8, 2025

The judges of the thirteenth century may have really had at their command a mine of law unrevealed to the bar and to the lay-public, for there is some reason for suspecting that in secret they borrowed freely, though not always wisely, from current compendia of the Roman and Canon laws.

Sir Henry Sumner Maine - Ancient Law: Its Connection to the History of Early Society

The good Shaykh at once offered to apply for leave from the Gerad Mohammed; not, however, finding the minister at home, he asked us to meet him at the palace on the morrow, about the time of Kat- eating. We had so often been disappointed in our hopes of a final "lay-public," that on this occasion much was not expected.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - First Footsteps in East Africa

Now, it is quite true that there was once a period at which the English common law might reasonably have been termed unwritten. The elder English judges did really pretend to knowledge of rules, principles, and distinctions which were not entirely revealed to the bar and to the lay-public.

Sir Henry Sumner Maine - Ancient Law: Its Connection to the History of Early Society