Maitland, MAYT luhnd, Frederic William (1850-1906), an English historian, pioneered in the study of early English legal history. His scholarship produced much of what is known today about the early history of English law. Maitland was able to sift through masses of contradictory and confusing evidence and find the truth. His important works include The History of English Law (1895), which he wrote with Frederick Pollock, and Domesday Book and Beyond (1897).