Roman Canon Law in Reformation England

Both a companion to and development of Maitland's celebrated Roman Canon Law in Medieval England.

R. H. Helmholz (Author)

9780521381918, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 May 1990

236 pages
23.4 x 14.1 x 1.9 cm, 0.429 kg

"...the overall themes of the book are clear and strikingly new....What enables Helholz to make theses assertions with confidence is that he has done what no one has done before. He has searched the local archives for ecclesiastical court material from this period. The material is extensive, and he has read it....a masterful survey that will serve us for years to come." Charles Donahue, Jr., Harvard Law School

In this book one of the world's foremost legal historians draws upon the evidence of the canon law, court records and the English common-law system to demonstrate the extent to which, contrary to received wisdom, Roman canon law survived in England after the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation. R. H. Helmholz provides an extensive examination of the manuscript records of the ecclesiastical courts and professional literature of the English civilians. Rebutting the views of Maitland and others, he shows how English looked to the Continent for guidance and authority in administering the system of justice they had inherited from the Middle Ages. Intellectual links between England and the Continent are shown to have survived the Reformation and the abolition of papal jurisdiction. The extent to which papal material was still used in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will interest all readers and surprise many.

Preface
List of abbreviations
Table of statutes
Table of cases
1. The medieval inheritance
2. The fortunes of ecclesiastical jurisdiction
3. Developments in law and legal practice
4. The literature of civilian practice
5. The civilians and English common law
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1]