Expectations of the Law in the Middle Ages

About the Book

This book represents the first systematic examination of the expectations people had of the law in the middle ages. Up until now historians have used medieval legal records to demonstrate the operation of legal rules, the functioning of legal institutions and the development of the legal profession, but they have rarely considered the attitudes that arose as a result of the processes of law. The papers in this volume investigate the way expectations of the law were generated, captured, revealed or replayed for posterity in medieval Europe in jurisprudential reasoning, the activity of charter writing, the framing of definitions of 'liberty', the concern for historical justifications, and the phraseology of various forms of legislation and chancery bills. Attitudes and perceptions are also considered with regard to the active role played by rulers of European states in law-giving and in the organisation of legal institutions. Contextualising some of the developments in medieval law, this volume not only enables generalisations to be made about expectations of the law, but also highlights the existence of national and supra-national similarities as well as differences arising in medieval Europe.Dr ANTHONY MUSSON teaches in the School of Law at the University of Exeter.Contributors: RICHARD W. KAEUPER, D. HEIRBAUT, M. KORPIOLA, JUDITH EVERARD, CYNTHIA J. NEVILLE, JULIA C. CRICK, H. SUMMERSON, G. SEABOURNE, G. DODD, T. HASKETT, ANTHONY MUSSON, C. STEBBINGS, P. TUCKER

Table of Contents:
The King and the Fox: Reactions to the Role of Kingship in Tales of 'Reynard and the Fox' - Richard W Kaeuper Flanders: A Pioneer of State-Orientate Feudalism? Feudalism as an Instrument of Comital Power in Flanders During the High Middle Ages (1000-1300)Ages (1000-1300) - D Heirbaut 'The People of Sweden shall have Peace': Peace Legislation and Royal Power in Later Medieval Sweden - Mia Korpiola The 'Assize of Count Geoffrey' (1185): Law and Politics in Angevin Brittany - and Charter Writing and the Exercise of Lordship in Thirteenth- Century Celtic Scotland - Cynthia J Neville Liberty and Fraternity: Creating and Defending the Liberty of St Albans - Julia C Crick Counterfeiters, Forgers and Felons in English Courts, 1200-1400 - Henry Summerson Law Morals and Money: Royal Regulation of the Substance of Subjects' Sales and Loans in England, 1272-1399 - Gwen Seabourne The Hidden Presence: Parliament and the Private Petition in the Fourteenth Century - Gwilym Dodd Conscience, Justice and Authority in the Late-Medieval English Court of Chancery - T Haskett Appealing to the Past: Perceptions of Law in Late Medieval England - Anthony Musson Victorian Perceptions of Medieval Jurisprudence - C Stebbings Historians' Expectations of the Medieval Legal Records - P Tucker

About the Author :
ANTHONY MUSSON is Head of Research at Historic Royal Palaces. ANTHONY MUSSON is Head of Research at Historic Royal Palaces. GWILYM DODD is Associate Professor of History at the University of Nottingham, UK. HENRY SUMMERSON was awarded his Ph.D. by Cambridge University for a thesis on crime and law enforcement in England, 1227-1263. He has continued to work in this field, publishing numerous articles on aspects of medieval criminality, and editions, alone or in collaboration, of three crown pleas rolls, for Devon in 1238, Wiltshire in 1268 and Lancashire in 1292.

Review :
An important theme..., namely the role of law in the development of the medieval state... Enjoyable and enlightening. HISTORY This volume can definitely be singled-out as likely to be of genuine interest to any medievalist, as well as deserving of attention from legal historians in particular. Moreover, it is extremely readable, giving an account of a diverse range of topics and debates.