The Law of Treason in England in the Later Middle Ages

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Cambridge University Press, Jan 29, 2004 - History - 288 pages
Professor Bellamy places the theory of treason in its political setting and analyses the part it played in the development of legal and political thought in this period. He pays particular attention to the Statute of Treason of 1352, an act with a notable effect on later constitutional history and which, in the opinion of Edward Coke, had a legal importance second only to that of Magna Carta. He traces the English law of treason to Roman and Germanic origins, and discusses the development of royal attitudes towards rebellion, the judicial procedures used to try and condemn suspected traitors, and the interaction of the law of treason and constitutional ideas.
 

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Contents

The Medieval Concept of Treason
1
The Treatise Writers and the English Law of Treason at the End of the Thirteenth Century
15
The Origins of the English State Trial
23
The Great Statute of Treasons
59
The Scope of Treason 13521485
102
Treason before the Courts 13521485
138
The Origins and the Early History of the Act of Attainder
177
Treasons and the Constitution
206
Misprision
216
Petty Treason
225
Illustrative Materials
232
Select Bibliography
239
Index
246
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