The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession
Canonists, Civilians, and Courts
By the end of the eleventh century, Brundage argues, renewed interest in Roman law combined with the rise of canon law of the Western church to trigger a series of consolidations in the profession. New legal procedures emerged, and formal training for proctors and advocates became necessary in order to practice law in the reorganized church courts. Brundage demonstrates that many features that characterize legal advocacy today were already in place by 1250, as lawyers trained in Roman and canon law became professionals in every sense of the term. A sweeping examination of the centuries-long power struggle between local courts and the Christian church, secular rule and religious edict, The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession will be a resource for the professional and the student alike.
Association of American Publishers: PROSE Book Award
Won
Law and Legal Studies category
“James Brundage’s The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession is a major work of original scholarship, the crowning achievement of a long and distinguished career as a historian of the medieval canon law. He has succeeded brilliantly in this first general account of the emergence of canon lawyers as a recognizable professional group. This book will, undoubtedly, be recognized as a work of fundamental importance to all scholars working on canon law or indeed more widely on medieval lawyers.”
“Long-awaited, Professor Brundage’s history of the medieval (and ancient Roman) origins of the legal profession was well worth waiting for. Brundage masterfully weaves together the history of the teaching of law as an academic subject, the explosion of new sources of law, the emergence of the university, the emergence of formal courts, and the development of Romano-canonical procedure. All these topics, many of which are quite controversial, are handled with a deftness and clarity that provokes admiration and, for those of us who have tried to write about the same things, a tinge of envy. This book will stand for many years as a monument, not only in the history of the legal profession but also in the history of European law.”
“James Brundage tells us, a new law book cost on average about thirty-five Bolognese pounds, more than some houses. Today's students, scholars and lawyers will welcome this very learned and much more affordable volume.”–John Hudson, Times Literary Supplement
“This book . . . has been forty years in the making, and given its richness, the reader can be grateful for those decades of research.”
“The first several chapters provide sparkling synopses of legal procedures and the roles of legal experts during the Roman Empire, the early Middle Ages, and the beginnings of the revival of Roman law in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which is ascribed to the powerful texts that drove it. . . . Brundage’s discussion of the other key text of the legal revival, Gratian’s Decretum, is the best lucid summary of the highly technical paleographic and legal research one is likely to find. . . . To someone coming fresh to medieval canon law, Brundage's is one of the first books to confront. It is readable, at times colorful, informative, and sound.”
List of Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Foundation: The Roman Legal Profession
Chapter 2 Law without Lawyers: The Early Middle Ages
Chapter 3 The Legal Revival of the Twelfth Century
Chapter 4 Church Courts, Civil Procedure, and the Professionalization of Law
Chapter 5 Pre-Professional Lawyers in Twelfth-Century Church Courts
Chapter 6 The Formation of an Educated Elite: Law Schools and Universities
Chapter 7 Attaining Professional Status
Chapter 8 Professional Canon Lawyers: Advocates and Proctors
Chapter 9 Judges and Notaries
Chapter 10 The Practice of Canon Law
Chapter 11 Rewards and Hazards of the Legal Profession
Conclusion: The Tradition of the Legal Profession
Bibliography
History: Ancient and Classical History | European History | General History
Law and Legal Studies: Legal History
Religion: Christianity | Comparative Studies and History of Religion | Philosophy of Religion, Theology, and Ethics | Religion and Society
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