"As a Member of Parliament, Justice of the Peace, Justice ad Inquirendum, litigant, plaintiff, and "attornato," Geoffrey Chaucer read the literature of the law. But what actually did he read and what did it tell him about law, about life, and, ultimately, about art? Did documents from the Manor Courts, for example, suggest the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales? Was a Norwich lending law the impetus for the Shipman's Tale? Milling ordinances, for the fabliau told by the Reeve?

Does the House of Fame draw on a law of publica fama, and could there be a legal reading for that strange poem? Did specific methods for reading legal tracts suggest to Chaucer certain techniques that he in turn could require of his audience when they read his works? And if so, how are we to know? It is questions such as these that this book addresses."--BOOK JACKET.