Overview

In Order in the Court, Brasington translates and comments upon the earliest medieval treatises on ecclesiastical legal procedure. Beginning with the eleventh-century Marturi Case, the first citation of the Digest in court since late antiquity and the jurist Bulgarus' letter to Haimeric, the papal chancellor, we witness the evolution of Roman-law procedure in Italy. The study then focusses on Anglo-Norman works, all from the second half of the twelfth century. The De edendo, the Practica legum of Bishop William of Longchamp, and the Ordo Bambergensis blend Roman and canon law to guide the judge, advocate, and litigant in court. These reveal the study and practice of the learned law during the turbulent Age of Becket and its aftermath.

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Reviews

The title of this book might lead readers to expect something more modest. While the translations make it of obvious worth to anyone interested in the legal organization of premodern Western Europe, Order in the Court is really a scholarly monograph in its own right. In it, Brasington describes the conditions that gradually made law more a matter of learning than of custom. Throughout this process, Roman law exerted a gravitational pull on litigants and experts, eventually overwhelming the independent legal traditions that had built up in its absence... As much for its careful discussion of the [textual] materials (delivered with a command of a staggering range of scholarly publications) as for the texts themselves, I am grateful for the work that must have gone into the preparation of this important volume, which is sure to benefit both the teaching and the study of legal history. I expect my copy will see much use in the years to come. Stefan Jurasinski, The Medieval Review (2017) Um es gleich vorweg zu nehmen: Ich kenne momentan keine andere derart gelungene kurze Zusammenfassung der Prozessrechtsgeschichte, die zugleich viel Raum fur weitere Entdeckungen lasst. Immer wieder gelingen Brasington souverane UEbersichten. Seine Beobachtungen bis in die Details sind uberzeugend und die Linien geben dem Leser die allgemeine Orientierung. [...] Man erkennt an diesen Erwagungen, wie informierend und anregend die Darstellung von Brasington selbst fur erfahrene Rechtshistoriker ist. Doch auch Unkundige werden hier die beste Einfuhrung in die Geschichte bis zum Hohen Mittelalter finden. Brasington vermittelt eine Quellen- und Literaturkenntnis, die dem Stand der Kanonistik entspricht, und erklart dabei zugleich, warum das roemische Recht so einflussreich sein konnte. Er leistet damit eine neue Grundlage zum Verstandnis der Entwicklung des hochmittelalterlichen Prozessrechts, das in einigen Elementen noch bis heute fortwirkt. Mathias Schmoeckel, ZRG KA 104 (2018)

The title of this book might lead readers to expect something more modest. While the translations make it of obvious worth to anyone interested in the legal organization of premodern Western Europe, Order in the Court is really a scholarly monograph in its own right. In it, Brasington describes the conditions that gradually made law more a matter of learning than of custom. Throughout this process, Roman law exerted a gravitational pull on litigants and experts, eventually overwhelming the independent legal traditions that had built up in its absence... As much for its careful discussion of the [textual] materials (delivered with a command of a staggering range of scholarly publications) as for the texts themselves, I am grateful for the work that must have gone into the preparation of this important volume, which is sure to benefit both the teaching and the study of legal history. I expect my copy will see much use in the years to come. Stefan Jurasinski, The Medieval Review (2017)

Author Information

Bruce C. Brasington, Ph.D. (1990), UCLA, is Professor of History at West Texas A&M University. He has published monographs and articles on medieval law and co-authored, with Robert Somerville, Prefaces to Canon Law Books in Latin Christianity(Yale, 1998).

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