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The History of Courts and Procedure in Medieval Canon Law
History of Medieval Canon Law
Edited by Wilfried Hartmann and Kenneth Pennington
Imprint: Catholic University of America Press
Understanding the rules of procedure and the practices of medieval and early modern courts is of great importance for historians of every stripe. The authors and editors of this volume present readers with a description of court procedure, the sources for investigating the work of the courts, the jurisprudence and the norms that regulated the courts, as well as a survey of the variety of courts that populated the European landscape. Not least, the authors wish to show the relationship between the jurisprudence that governed judicial procedure and what happened in the court room.
By the end of the thirteenth century, court procedure in continental Europe in secular and ecclesiastical courts shared many characteristics. As the academic jurists of the Ius commune began to excavate the norms of procedure from Justinian's great codification of law and then to expound them in the classroom and in their writings, they shaped the structure of ecclesiastical courts and secular courts as well. These essays also illuminate striking differences in the sources that we find in different parts of Europe. In northern Europe the archives are rich but do not always provide the details we need to understand a particular case. In Italy and Southern France the documentation is more detailed than in other parts of Europe but here too the historical records do not answer every question we might pose to them. In Spain, detailed documentation is strangely lacking, if not altogether absent. Iberian conciliar canons and tracts on procedure tell us much about practice in Spanish courts. As these essays demonstrate, scholars who want to peer into the medieval courtroom, must also read letters, papal decretals, chronicles, conciliar canons, and consilia to provide a nuanced and complete picture of what happened in medieval trials. This volume will give sophisticated guidance to all readers with an interest in European law and courts
Wilfried Hartmann is emeritus professor of the medieval history of canon law at the University of Tubingen. Kenneth Pennington is Kelly-Quinn Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Legal History at the Catholic University of America.
"It is a necessary and vital addition to the series, a truly significan review of scholarship and, as with the other volumes, serves as springboard to further research"
~W Becket Soule OP, Ecclesiastical Law Society
"It will be indispensable to any scholar working on canon law, the ius commune, ecclesiastical courts, and secular courts. Anyone researching medieval court cases should consult the contributions here in order to put them in context and gain a greater understanding of medieval legal terminology and personnel, standards of court procedure, and jurisprudential norms governing court processes... All libraries should aquire a copy, many medievalists and canon lawyers will want to own their own copy, and professors of ecclesiastical and legal history might consider assigning individual chapters in their classes."
~Larson, Atria A. , Horizons: The Journal of the College Theology Society
"The main question that this volume seeks to answer is whether the procedural rules of ordo iudiciorum were actually applied in practice. In other words:do the proceedings described in church court records reflect the procedural norms described in academic treatieses and papal decretals? While this question might seem trivial to the non-specialist, it is hugely important and has never actually been answered in a comprehensive way. The essays assembled here make a strong case that legal practice does, in fact, reflect legal theory...This volume provides a firm foundation upon which we might explore such questions. The editors and authors should be praised for undertaking and completing such a monumental project, which will be enormously edifying to scholars of medieval law and religion for years to come."
~Burden, John, Catholic Historical Review
"This is a book which has long been needed. It meets that need admirably."
~New Blackfriars