The Prince and the Law, 1200-1600: Sovereignty and Rights in the Western Legal TraditionThe power of the prince versus the rights of his subjects is one of the basic struggles in the history of law and government. In this masterful history of monarchy, conceptions of law, and due process, Kenneth Pennington addresses that struggle and opens an entirely new vista in the study of Western legal tradition. Pennington investigates legal interpretations of the monarch's power from the twelfth to the seventeenth century. Then, tracing the evolution of defendants' rights, he demonstrates that the origins of due process are not rooted in English common law as is generally assumed. It was not a sturdy Anglo-Saxon, but, most probably, a French jurist of the late thirteenth century who wrote, "A man is innocent until proven guilty." This is the first book to examine in detail the origins of our concept of due process. It also reveals a fascinating paradox: while a theory of individual rights was evolving, so, too, was the concept of the prince's "absolute power." Pennington illuminates this paradox with a clarity that will greatly interest students of political theory as well as legal historians. |
Contents
1 | |
The Emperor Is Lord of the World The Bolognese Lawyers and Imperial Ideology | 8 |
The Princes Power and Authority 11501270 The Contribution of the Canonists | 38 |
The Power of the Prince in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries | 76 |
Natural Law and Positive Law Due Process and the Prince | 119 |
Henry VII and Robert of Naples | 165 |
The Authority of the Prince in the Late Middle Ages | 202 |
The Pazzi Conspiracy and the Jurists | 238 |
The Sixteenth Century and Beyond | 269 |
Bibliography of Works Cited | 291 |
325 | |
332 | |
334 | |
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The Prince and the Law, 1200-1600: Sovereignty and Rights in the Western ... Kenneth Pennington No preview available - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
absolute power Accursius autem authority Baldus de Ubaldis Bartolus Bartolus of Sassoferrato bishop Bodin Bulgarus canon law canonists causa Cinus citatio citatione Clem commentary consilia consilium Cortese debet decretal defendant dicit dicitur Digna vox discussed divine law dominus due process ecclesia emperor enim ergo etiam gentium gloss Guido habet Henry Hostiensis Hostiensis's Ibid imperator infra Innocent iura iure naturali iuris ius commune Johannes Andreae jurists king Lectura lege legem licet Lorenzo manuscript medieval jurists merum merum imperium natural law nisi norms Odofredus Oldradus omnia ordo iudiciarius Panormitanus papa papal Pastoralis Pennington plenitudo potestatis podestà pope pope's positive law potest potestas absoluta prince Princeps legibus solutus principis procedure quam quia quod Robert of Naples Roman law secundum sicut sine Sixtus sovereignty Sozzini Summa summons sunt super supra Suzzara tamen thirteenth century Tierney videtur wrote