Definition
Magnus Rotulus Statutorum — Latin for "the great statute roll" — is the name given to the principal compilation of early English statutes assembled on a continuous roll of parchment. The roll begins with Magna Carta and concludes with the reign of Edward III, spanning roughly the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It served as the authoritative record of parliamentary legislation during that period and formed the foundational document from which later printed collections of English statutes were derived.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in early English legal history will encounter this term when tracing the origins of specific statutes, particularly those enacted between the reign of Henry III and Edward III. The Magnus Rotulus Statutorum is not a codification in the modern sense — it is a physical roll, and its arrangement is not strictly chronological or thematic by modern standards. Researchers should be aware that the printed editions of early English statutes, such as the Statutes of the Realm (1810–1828), were compiled in part by reference to this roll and similar manuscript sources, meaning discrepancies between the roll and later printed versions do occasionally exist.
Because the roll predates systematic parliamentary record-keeping as it developed in later centuries, citations in historical sources may refer to statutes by their position on the roll rather than by regnal year and chapter in the manner that became standard. A researcher unfamiliar with the organizational logic of the roll may find cross-referencing to modern statutory compilations unexpectedly difficult.
The roll's coverage begins with Magna Carta, which places it at the origin point of the English constitutional tradition. Any research touching on the early development of parliamentary authority, the common law, or constitutional history in England will sooner or later intersect with the statutes recorded here. The roll is also significant for understanding which instruments were treated as statutory in nature during the medieval period — a categorization that was far less settled then than later legal tradition assumes.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) provides the foundational entry: "The great statute roll. The first of the English statute rolls, beginning with Magne Charta, and ending with Edward III. Hale, Com. Law, 16, 17." The citation to Hale's History of the Common Law is the key reference; Sir Matthew Hale's account remains the most frequently cited authority on the structure and significance of the early statute rolls. Black's entry is brief and descriptive, offering a boundary definition (Magna Carta to Edward III) without elaborating on the roll's physical form, the process by which statutes were entered, or the relationship between the roll and parallel manuscript traditions. Researchers should treat Black's as a starting point rather than a complete account. No other Law Mind source dictionaries provide an independent entry for this term.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to the English legal tradition and carries no direct counterpart in other common law jurisdictions. Its relevance to American legal research is limited to constitutional and legal history scholarship, particularly work tracing the genealogy of rights provisions back to Magna Carta or other early English statutes.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See: Magna Carta; Statutes of the Realm; English Parliamentary History