It is only to be expected that the literary director of the Selden Society, who also happens to be a student and collector of manuscripts, a bencher of the Inner Temple, and an opponent of current constitutional slippages, should feel a distinct affinity with John Selden. What is more, although he was (in his own words) bred from the bottom of obscurity, Selden claimed to be descended through his mother from the first Sir John Baker, another bencher of the Inner Temple, whose unusual year book of Edward II – then in the Inner Temple library – he discussed in his notes to Fleta.

Selden is well known to legal historians in general from the society named after him. The truth is, however, that his name is now more widely known by reason of this association than from direct contact with his works; and so it is perhaps worth reflecting on how we should place him in the history of the discipline. Since Maitland is generally regarded as one of the prime movers behind the Selden Society, it is often assumed that he suggested the name, which would be a sufficient accolade in itself; yet Selden was not in fact his own first choice. Maitland's preference for Madox puts us on guard against assuming that the matter is obvious, especially since Selden's work is now so unfamiliar to most of us.

Selden began a legal career in the usual way.