Research Catalog

Title

A constitutional and legal history of medieval England / Bryce Lyon.

Author

Lyon, Bryce, 1920-2007

Publication

New York : Norton, c1980.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 669 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

Understanding our system of laws requires a knowledge of the past, in particular the roots of a legal tradition that took hold in medieval England. This landmark volume is an authoritative study of the inspirational and legal history of England, spanning the period of Richard III on Bosworth Field in 1485. In writing this book, Bryce Lyon has produced a work whose breadth of scholarship is unique among studies of the period. Each of its six sections includes chapters on local and central government and the law, as well as on such topics as feudalism, taxation, church-state relations, the Magna Carta, and parliament. With a modern's cognizance of the impact of bureaucracy in shaping government and law, Professor Lyon places special emphasis on the importance of administrative developments. He also demonstrates that many of medieval England's institutions and legal procedures are the forerunners of both modern English and American legal and governmental institutions, pointing out, for example, the close connection between medieval royal prerogative and modern presidential executive privilege, and the similarities between the procedures and privileges of the medieval parliament and the American Congress. The new edition incorporates the results of the last two decades of medieval scholarship and includes completely new bibliographies for each section, as well as a new discussion of the period 1399-1485, which takes into account the latest interpretations of Lancastrian and Yorkist history.

Subjects

• Geschichte 450-1485
• To 1485
• History
• Law, Medieval
• Law > England > History
• England > Civilization > 1066-1485
• Constitutional history, Medieval
• Great Britain > Politics and government > To 1485
• Law > Great Britain > History

Genre/Form

• History
• History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographies and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Part One. The Anglo-Saxon Period -- I. The sources for early English institutions -- 1. Nonnarrative sources -- 2. Narrative sources -- 3. Supplementary sources -- II. Germanic foundations of English institutions -- III. Anglo-Saxon England, 450-1066 -- 1. The Anglo-Saxon conquest (450-600) -- 2. The supremacy of Northumbria and Mercia -- 3. The Viking invasions -- 4. Wessex and the unification of England -- 5. The Danish conquest -- 6. Edward the Confessor and the Norman conquest -- IV. Central administration -- 1. Kingship -- 2. The Witenagemot -- 3. The royal household -- V. Local administration -- 1. The shire -- 2. The hundred -- 3. The borough -- 4. The agrarian community -- VI. Anglo-Saxon society and the law -- 1. The kindred -- 2. Lordship -- 3. Wealth and property -- 4. Classes of men -- 5. The law and its penalities -- 6. The law of property and contract -- 7. Misadventure and responsibility for accident -- 8. Procedure -- Bibliography -- Part Two. The Norman kings --^
• VII. The Norman sources -- 1. Nonnarrative sources -- 2. Narrative sources -- VIII. Norman England, 1066-1154 -- 1. William the Conqueror (1066-1087) -- 2. William Rufus (1087-1100) -- 3. Henry I (1100-1135) -- 4. Stephen, Matilda, and the anarchy (1135-1154) -- IX. The feudalization of England -- X. Central administration: kingship and curia regis -- 1. Kingship -- 2. The King's Great Council -- 3. The King's Small Council -- 4. Conclusions -- XI. Central administration: justiciar, household, chancery, exchequer, adn the roval income -- 1. The justiciar -- 2. The royal household -- 3. The chancery -- 4. The exchequer -- 5. The roval income -- XII. Local administration: counties, hundreds, manors, and boroughs -- 1. The county and sheriff -- 2. The hundred -- 3. The manor -- 4. The borough -- XIII. Anglo-Norman law -- 1. The coalescence of Anglo-Norman law -- 2. The courts and their jurisdiction -- 3. Process and procedure -- XIV. The Norman church and state --^
• 1. The continental background -- 2. Wiliam I and church reform -- 3. The investiture struggle -- Bibliography -- Part Three. Henry II and his sons -- XV. The Angevin sources -- 1. Nonnarrative sources -- 2. Narrative sources -- XVI. Angevin England, 1154-1216 -- 1. The reign of Henry II (1154-1189) -- 2. The reign of Richard I (1189-1199) -- 3. The reign of John (1199-1216) -- XVII. Central administration -- 1. Kingship -- 2. Curia regis: the great council -- 3. Curia regis: the small council -- 4. The justiciar -- 5. The household -- XVIII. Angevin finance and military administration -- 1. The exchequer -- 2. The chamber and wardrobe -- 3. Angevin taxation -- 4. The sinews of war -- XIX. Local administration: counties and boroughs -- 1. Counties and sheriffs -- 2. The borough -- XX. Angevin legal innovations -- 1. The royal courts -- 2. The public courts -- 3. The feudal and manorial courts -- 4. Civil procedure -- 5. Criminal procedure -- 6. The coroners -- 7. Conclusions --^
• XXI. Angevin church and state -- 1. Thomas Becket and Henry II -- 2. Richard I and the church -- 3. John and Innocent III -- 4. Conclusions -- XXII. Magna carta and the defeat of Angevin absolutism -- 1. Opinions on magna carta -- 2. The reasons for magna carta -- 3. The content of magna carta -- 4. The value of magna carta -- Bibliography
• Part Four. Henry III adn Edward I -- XXIII. The thirteenth-century sources -- 1. Nonnarrative sources -- 2. Narrative sources -- XXIV. England under Henry III and Edward I, 1216-1307 -- 1. Henry III (1216-1272) -- 2. Edward I (1272-1307) -- XXV. Central administration -- 1. The King -- 2. The justiciar -- 3. The small council -- 4. The chancery -- 5. The royal household -- 6. Conclusions -- XXVI. Innovation in finance and taxation -- 1. The exchequer -- 2. The wardrobe -- 3. The royal income -- 4. Direct taxation -- 5. Indirect taxation -- 6. Conclusions -- XXVII. Local government by royal command -- 1. The county -- 2. The hundred -- 3. The feudal units of the county -- 4. The borough -- 5. Local self-government by royal command -- XXVIII. The evolution of parliament -- 1. The king's council -- 2. The great council -- 3. The word "parliament" -- 4. The representative element of parliament -- 5. The transitional period of parliament -- 6. Clerical representation --^
• 7. An Edwardian parliament at work -- 8. The nature of parliament -- XXIX. The age of Bracton -- 1. The common law -- 2. The Common law under Henry III -- 3. The common law under Edward I -- 4. The royal courts -- 5. Civil procedure -- 6. Cimrinal procedure -- 7. Special courts -- XXX. The substance of the law -- 1. The land law -- 2. Personal property and rules of inheritance -- 3. Criminal law -- 4. Conclusions -- Bibliography -- Part Five. Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II -- XXXI. The sources and history of the fourteenth century -- 1. Nonnarrative sources -- 2. Narrative sources -- 3. The reign of Edward II (1307-1327) -- 4. The reign of Edward III (1327-1377) -- 5. The reign of Richard II (1377-1399) -- XXXII. Kingship and council -- 1. Kingship -- 2. The royal council -- 3. Conclusions -- XXXIII. Central and local government -- 1. The central government -- 2. Local government -- XXXIV. The maturing of parliamentary institutions --^
• 1. Parliament: a representative institution -- 2. The House of Lords -- 3. The House of Commons -- 4. The electoral system -- 5. The powers of parliament -- 6. Privilege and procedure -- 7. Conclusions -- Bibliography -- Part Six. The Houses of Lancaster and York -- XXXV. The sources and history of Lancastrian and Yorkist England -- 1. Nonnarative sources -- 2. Narrative sources -- 3. The reign of Henry IV (1399-1413) -- 4. The reign of Henry V (1413-1422) -- 5. The reign of Henry VI (1422-1461) -- 6. The reign of Edward IV (1461-1483) -- 7. The reign of Richard III (1483-1485) -- XXXVI. Administrative council and parliament -- 1. Kingship -- 2. The administrative council -- 3. Parliament -- 4. Conclusions -- XXXVII. The common law and its elaboration -- 1. The courts -- 2. The legal profession -- 3. Legislation -- 4. Criminal law -- 5. Civil law -- 6. Procedure -- 7. Conclusion -- XXXVIII. The success of English Medieval consitutionalism -- Bibliography -- Index

ISBN

0393951324

LCCN

^^^79021455^//r934

OCLC

• 5447925
• SCSB-10323315

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library