Central Courts In Early Modern Europe And The Americas

The intimate connection between medieval royal government and the administration of justice led to a new generation of centralized law courts emerging in early modern Europe. Some were newly created institutions, but often they were associated with the evolution of the judicial role of royal councils, or equivalent bodies, which sat outside the ordinary course of justice. Typically these were empowered on behalf of the sovereign to make interventions in legal process on grounds of equity. Legal change of this kind was connected with the development of the state, and reflected the way that enhancement in the exercise of centralized judicial authority could be a powerful force reshaping the administration of justice more generally. The contributions to this book seek to examine how such newly created or reformed central judicial bodies (in Europe but also to some extent in European colonial settlement in the Americas) became integrated into the wider structures of jurisdiction within states, with a superior or even supreme jurisdiction. A particular emphasis is given to exploring how their jurisdiction and authority related to other more political institutions of central governance with an adjudicative role, such as parliaments or privy councils.

First published in 1981, Lawyers in Early Modern Europe and America aims to present a convenient conspectus on the legal professions in early modern Europe, Scotland, France Spain and Colonial America, and to provide a comparative perspective on the place of the legal profession in Western societies before the Industrial Revolution. The main themes covered by each contributor are: the status, number and vocational functions of the different classes or groups or lawyers; their social origins; education and career patterns; relations between lawyers and clients, other occupations and status-groups and the state; the extent of legal ‘professionalisation’ and the role of lawyers as ‘modernisers’ in cultural, economic, political and social terms. This book will be of interest to students of history, law and political science.

1. The book is the first devoted to the topic of women artists across the courts of early modern Europe. 2. The essays consider women artists and their experiences in a variety of European courts, in Italy, Flanders, Spain, and England. 3. The essays included address a variety of forms of artistic production by women in the courts, including large and small-scale paintings, sculpture, prints, and textiles.

This volume offers an extensive introduction to Western legal traditions from antiquity to the twentieth century. Drawing from a variety of scholarly writings, both in English and in translation, thirteen leading scholars present the current state of western legal history research and pave the way for new debates and future study. This is the ideal sourcebook for graduate students, as it enables them to approach the key questions of the field in an accessible way. Contributors are: Aniceto Masferrer, C.H. (Remco) van Rhee, Seán P. Donlan, Stephan Dusil, Gerald Schwedler, Jean-Louis Halpérin, Jan Hallebeek, Agustín Parise, Heikki Pihlajamäki, Dirk Heirbaut, Bernd Kannowski, Adolfo Giuliani, Olivier Moréteau, and Jacques Vanderlinden.

This Handbook re-examines the concept of early modern history in a European and global context. Volume II engages with philosophy, science, art and architecture, music, and the Enlightenment, and examines the military and political developments within and beyond the boundaries of Europe.

Prince, Pen, and Sword offers a synoptic interpretation of rulers and elites in Eurasia from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. Four core chapters zoom in on the tensions and connections at court, on the nexus between rulers and religious authority, on the status, function, and self-perceptions of military and administrative elites respectively. Two additional concise chapters provide a focused analysis of the construction of specific dynasties (the Golden Horde and the Habsburgs) and narratives of kingship found in fiction throughout Eurasia. The contributors and editors, authorities in their fields, systematically bring together specialised literature on numerous Eurasian kingdoms and empires. This book is a careful and thought-provoking experiment in the global, comparative and connected history of rulers and elites.

A collection of essays from leading scholars in the field that collectively study the rise and fall of witchcraft prosecutions in the various kingdoms and territories of Europe and in English, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies in the Americas.

The first English translation of a comprehensive legal history of Europe from the early middle ages to the twentieth century, encompassing both the common aspects and the original developments of different countries. As well as legal scholars and professionals, it will appeal to those interested in the general history of European civilisation.