jurisdiction, English literature, and the rise of common law, 1509-1625 /
Bradin Cormack.
Chicago :
University of Chicago Press,
2007.
1 online resource (xiii, 406 pages) :
illustrations, maps
Includes bibliographical references (pages 331-386) and index.
pt. 1. Centralization. "Shewe us your mynde then": bureaucracy and royal privilege in Skelton's Magnyfycence -- "No more to medle of the matter": Thomas More, equity, and the claims of jurisdiction -- pt. 2. Rationalization. Inconveniencing the Irish: custom, allegory, and the common law in Spenser's Ireland -- "If we be conquered": legal nationalism and the France of Shakespeare's English histories -- pt. 3. Formalization. "To stride a limit": imperium, crisis, and accommodation in Shakespeare's Cymbeline and Pericles -- "To law for our children": norm and jurisdiction in Webster, Rowley, and Heywood's Cure for a Cuckold.
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English law underwent rapid transformation in the sixteenth century, in response to the Reformation and also to heightened litigation and legal professionalization. As the common law became more comprehensive and systematic, the principle of jurisdiction came under particular strain. When the common law engaged with other court systems in England, when it encountered territories like Ireland and France, or when it confronted the ocean as a juridical space, the law revealed its qualities of ingenuity and improvisation. In other words, as Bradin Cormack argues, jurisdictional crisis made visible.
Power to do justice.
9780226116242
English literature-- Early modern, 1500-1700-- History and criticism.
Law and literature-- Great Britain-- History-- 16th century.
Law and literature-- Great Britain-- History-- 17th century.