Law and Order in Anglo-Saxon England

Law and Order in Anglo-Saxon England PDF Author: Thomas Benedict Lambert
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019878631X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
Law and Order in Anglo-Saxon England explores English legal culture and practice across the Anglo-Saxon period, beginning with the essentially pre-Christian laws enshrined in writing by King AEthelberht of Kent in c. 600 and working forward to the Norman Conquest of 1066. It attempts to escape the traditional retrospective assumptions of legal history, focused on the late twelfth-century Common Law, and to establish a new interpretative framework for the subject, more sensitive to contemporary cultural assumptions and practical realities. The focus of the volume is on the maintenance of order: what constituted good order; what forms of wrongdoing were threatening to it; what roles kings, lords, communities, and individuals were expected to play in maintaining it; and how that worked in practice. Its core argument is that the Anglo-Saxons had a coherent, stable, and enduring legal order that lacks modern analogies: it was neither state-like nor stateless, and needs to be understood on its own terms rather than as a variant or hybrid of these models. Tom Lambert elucidates a distinctively early medieval understanding of the tension between the interests of individuals and communities, and a vision of how that tension ought to be managed that, strikingly, treats strongly libertarian and communitarian features as complementary. Potentially violent, honour-focused feuding was an integral aspect of legitimate legal practice throughout the period, but so too was fearsome punishment for forms of wrongdoing judged socially threatening. Law and Order in Anglo-Saxon England charts the development of kings' involvement in law, in terms both of their authority to legislate and their ability to influence local practice, presenting a picture of increasingly ambitious and effective royal legal innovation that relied more on the cooperation of local communal assemblies than kings' sparse and patchy network of administrative officials.

Law and Order in Anglo-Saxon England

Law and Order in Anglo-Saxon England PDF Author: Thomas Benedict Lambert
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019878631X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

Get Book Here

Book Description
Law and Order in Anglo-Saxon England explores English legal culture and practice across the Anglo-Saxon period, beginning with the essentially pre-Christian laws enshrined in writing by King AEthelberht of Kent in c. 600 and working forward to the Norman Conquest of 1066. It attempts to escape the traditional retrospective assumptions of legal history, focused on the late twelfth-century Common Law, and to establish a new interpretative framework for the subject, more sensitive to contemporary cultural assumptions and practical realities. The focus of the volume is on the maintenance of order: what constituted good order; what forms of wrongdoing were threatening to it; what roles kings, lords, communities, and individuals were expected to play in maintaining it; and how that worked in practice. Its core argument is that the Anglo-Saxons had a coherent, stable, and enduring legal order that lacks modern analogies: it was neither state-like nor stateless, and needs to be understood on its own terms rather than as a variant or hybrid of these models. Tom Lambert elucidates a distinctively early medieval understanding of the tension between the interests of individuals and communities, and a vision of how that tension ought to be managed that, strikingly, treats strongly libertarian and communitarian features as complementary. Potentially violent, honour-focused feuding was an integral aspect of legitimate legal practice throughout the period, but so too was fearsome punishment for forms of wrongdoing judged socially threatening. Law and Order in Anglo-Saxon England charts the development of kings' involvement in law, in terms both of their authority to legislate and their ability to influence local practice, presenting a picture of increasingly ambitious and effective royal legal innovation that relied more on the cooperation of local communal assemblies than kings' sparse and patchy network of administrative officials.

Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law

Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description


The Laws of Alfred

The Laws of Alfred PDF Author: Stefan Jurasinski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108897894
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
Alfred the Great's domboc ('book of laws') is the longest and most ambitious legal text of the Anglo-Saxon period. Alfred places his own laws, dealing with everything from sanctuary to feuding to the theft of bees, between a lengthy translation of legal passages from the Bible and the legislation of the West-Saxon King Ine (r. 688–726), which rival his own in length and scope. This book is the first critical edition of the domboc published in over a century, as well as a new translation. Five introductory chapters offer fresh insights into the laws of Alfred and Ine, considering their backgrounds, their relationship to early medieval legal culture, their manuscript evidence and their reception in later centuries. Rather than a haphazard accumulation of ordinances, the domboc is shown to issue from deep reflection on the nature of law itself, whose effects would permanently alter the development of early English legislation.

The Legal Code of Ælfred the Great

The Legal Code of Ælfred the Great PDF Author: Great Britain
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law, Anglo-Saxon
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description


Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England

Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon England PDF Author: Jay Paul Gates
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1843839180
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Anglo-Saxon authorities often punished lawbreakers with harsh corporal penalties, such as execution, mutilation and imprisonment. Despite their severity, however, these penalties were not arbitrary exercises of power. Rather, they were informed by nuanced philosophies of punishment which sought to resolve conflict, keep the peace and enforce Christian morality. The ten essays in this volume engage legal, literary, historical, and archaeological evidence to investigate the role of punishment in Anglo-Saxon society. Three dominant themes emerge in the collection. First is the shift from a culture of retributive feud to a system of top-down punishment, in which penalties were imposed by an authority figure responsible for keeping the peace. Second is the use of spectacular punishment to enhance royal standing, as Anglo-Saxon kings sought to centralize and legitimize their power. Third is the intersection of secular punishment and penitential practice, as Christian authorities tempered penalties for material crime with concern for the souls of the condemned. Together, these studies demonstrate that in Anglo-Saxon England, capital and corporal punishments were considered necessary, legitimate, and righteous methods of social control. Jay Paul Gates is Assistant Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in The City University of New York; Nicole Marafioti is Assistant Professor of History and co-director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Contributors: Valerie Allen, Jo Buckberry, Daniela Fruscione, Jay Paul Gates, Stefan Jurasinski, Nicole Marafioti, Daniel O'Gorman, Lisi Oliver, Andrew Rabin, Daniel Thomas.

The Old English Penitentials and Anglo-Saxon Law

The Old English Penitentials and Anglo-Saxon Law PDF Author: Stefan Jurasinski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107083419
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
This is the first book-length study of the four penitentials composed in Old English. This book argues that they are also important to our understanding of how written law developed in early England. This book considers their backgrounds and shows how they illuminate obscure passages in better-known Old English texts.

Anglo-American Law

Anglo-American Law PDF Author: Michael T. W. Arnheim
Publisher: Lawbook Exchange, Limited
ISBN: 9781616196325
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
English and American law share a common origin. Yet the differences between them are now greater than the similarities. Anglo-American Law: A Comparison identifies the differences between the two systems of law and their constitutions. From Anglo-Saxon law to Brexit, from the Founders to President Trump, Arnheim compares the English and American legal systems and shows how they differ, particularly in matters of constitutional law, tort, civil and human rights, abortion, codification, freedom of religion, privacy, judicial review, defamation, and more. xxvi, 463 pp.

Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History

Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History PDF Author: Association of American Law Schools
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Common law
Languages : en
Pages : 890

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Book Description


Magna Carta

Magna Carta PDF Author: Claire Breay
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780712357630
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
When it was granted by King John in 1215, the Magna Carta was a practical solution to a political crisis. In the centuries since, it has become a potent symbol of liberty and the rule of law. Drawing on the rich historical collections of the British Library--including two original copies of Magna Carta from 1215--this book brings to life the history and contemporary resonance of this globally important document. It features treasured artifacts inspired by the rich legacy of Magna Carta, including Thomas Jefferson's handwritten draft of the Declaration of Independence and an original copy of the Bill of Rights.

Anglo-Saxon Wills

Anglo-Saxon Wills PDF Author: Dorothy Whitelock
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107402212
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
This 1930 volume contains the original texts of the great majority of surviving Anglo-Saxon wills drawn up in the tenth and eleventh centuries. They are of special interest for the light they cast on the connections of those who made the wills, and the ways in which the testators managed the disposition of their possessions.