Central Courts in Early Modern Europe and the Americas
Comparative Studies in Continental and Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 34 / Vergleichende Untersuchungen zur kontinentaleuropäischen und anglo-amerikanischen Rechtsgeschichte, Band 34. Berlin: Duncker and Humblot. 2020. 543 pp. ISBN 978-3-428-18033-2 (print); 978-3-428-58033-0 (ebook).
Via Amazon UK. Via the Publisher.
Edited by A. M. Godfrey and C. H. van Rhee
From the publisher: "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."
Contents
A. M. Godfrey and C. H. van Rhee: Introduction; K. Salonen: The Sacra Romana Rota; N. G. Jones: The English Court of Chancery; W. Prest: An 'ordinary court of justice'? The appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords, 1689–1760; A. M. Godfrey: The College of Justice, Court of Session and Privy Council in sixteenth century Scotland, 1532–1603; J. D. Ford: Adjudication in the Scottish Parliament, 1532–1707.
