Originally published in 1973 The Law Courts of Medieval England looks at law courts as the most developed institutions existing in the medieval times. Communities crystallized upon them and the governments worked through them. This book describes the scope and procedures of the different courts, appointment of the judges, the beginnings of civil and criminal courts, the origin of the jury system and other aspects of the modern legal system. It is all shown by an analysis of actual reports of court cases of the time, giving a vivid picture of the life of the English people as well as of the ways of the professional lawyers, no less intricate than they are today.

A Companion to the Medieval Papacy brings together an international group of experts on various aspects of the medieval papacy. Each chapter provides an up-to-date introduction to and scholarly interpretation of topics of crucial importance to the development of the papacy’s thinking about its place in the medieval world and of its institutional structures. Topics covered include: the Papal States; the Gregorian Reform; papal artistic self-representation; hierocratic theory; canon law; decretals; councils; legates and judges delegate; the apostolic camera, chancery, penitentiary, and Rota; relations with Constantinople; crusades; missions. The volume includes an introductory chapter by Thomas F.X. Noble on the historiographical challenges of writing medieval papal history. Contributors are: Sandro Carocci, Atria A. Larson, Andrew Louth, Jehangir Malegam, Andreas Meyer, Harald Müller, Thomas F.X. Noble, Francesca Pomarici, Rebecca Rist, Kirsi Salonen, Felicitas Schmieder, Keith Sisson, Danica Summerlin, and Stefan Weiß.

This collection of essays discusses aspects of church life in each of the three dioceses of Carlisle, Durham and York, identifying the main features of religion in the north and placing contemporary religious attitudes in both a social and a local context

Intimate details about the personal lives of medieval people are frustratingly rare. We seldom know what the men and women of the middle ages thought about marriage, let alone about sex. The records of the church courts of the province of York, mainly dating from the fourteenth century, provides a welcome light on private, family life and on individual reactions to it. They include a wide range of fascinating cases involving disputes about the validity of marriage, consent, sex, marital violence, impotence and property disputes. They also show how widely the laws of marriage were both known and accepted. Marriage Disputes in Medieval England offers a remarkable insight into personal life in the middle ages.

This book, a study of the principal appellate court in the English civil law hierarchy, the High Court of Delegates, examines the history, jurisdiction, procedure, personnel and records of the court from the mid-sixteenth century until its abolition in 1832. In an introductory historical survey, the author considers the earlier provisions for civil law appeal, the circumstances surrounding the creation of the Court of Delegates, and its history from the mid-sixteenth century until 1832. After a general discussion of the jurisdiction of the court, Dr Duncan goes on to a detailed discussion of several jurisdictional problems: in particular he deals with the relationship between the Court of Delegates and certain other Judicial bodies, and with the extent of the Court's original jurisdiction. He devotes two chapters to commissions of delegacy and commissions of review, analysing the rules which governed the right of a party to appeal to the Court of Delegates, and also to appeal from a decision of that Court. The central portion of the book is devoted to procedure: the various stages through which an appeal passed are set out in detail, and particular attention is paid to the taking of evidence.

Originally published in 1965. In A Baronial Family in Medieval England: The Clares, 1217–1314, Michael Altschul studies the Clare family during the thirteenth century. The Clares spearheaded the struggle to enforce Magna Carta in the Barons' War. Historians prior to Altschul tended to neglect the Clares' history given the scattered nature of the archives documenting their time as a politically influential and powerful family. This book unfolds chronologically, outlining the Clares' rise to preeminence and describing how they administered their estates and income.