Law and legal culture in Anglo‐Saxon England

AbstractStarting with evidence from law-codes, this article traces how penance was increasingly integrated into later Anglo-Saxon legal culture, arguing that this process opened the way for ritualized acts of satisfaction to become a regular feature of contemporary dispute settlement. The rituals used in such contexts often borrowed symbols and concepts from the world of penance, with the central idea being that an offender who repented and humbled himself was worthy of pardon. A few detailed accounts of such settlements survive and to these we may add cases of restitution and political reconciliation, which witness a similar logic. Taken together, these suggest that the stark contrasts often drawn between English and continental (particularly German) disputing in these years are in need of some revision. Far from being ‘fiercely punitive’, later Anglo-Saxon justice was characterized by a complex mix of formalized punishments and more informal means of settlement, not unlike what is visible in the Ottonian Reich.

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JUDICARY OF JUDGES OF PEACE IN PETTY CRIMINAL CASES – LEGISLATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Roczniki Administracji i Prawa ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0013.3588 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 1 (XIX) ◽

pp. 143-158

Author(s):

Pior Kruszyński ◽

Jan Kil

Keyword(s):

Legal System ◽

Historical Development ◽

Legal Culture ◽

Legal Analysis ◽

Anglo Saxon ◽

Criminal Proceedings ◽

Criminal Cases ◽

Legislative Proposals

The article is devoted to the institution of the judges of peace. The study presents the essence of the judiciary of the judges of peace. The study presents regulations concerning the judges of peace appearing in Polish legislation over its historical development. A comparative legal analysis was also performed, with particular focus on Anglo-Saxon legal culture. The publication presents legislative proposals related to the postulated introduction of the institution of peace judges into the Polish legal system in terms of petty criminal cases, as well as the advantages of such a judiciary. The article formulates proposals regarding the scope of cognition of the judges of peace as well as the basic rules of the criminal proceedings conducted before them.

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New Evidence for the Influence of Gallic Canon Law in Anglo-Saxon England

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History ◽

10.1017/s002204691300153x ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 64 (4) ◽

pp. 700-730 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

MICHAEL D. ELLIOT

Keyword(s):

Canon Law ◽

Legal Culture ◽

Considerable Importance ◽

Anglo Saxon ◽

The Past ◽

Canonical Literature ◽

Early English ◽

New Evidence

The importance of canon law collections to Anglo-Saxon legal culture has long been thought negligible, especially in comparison to the considerable importance of an alternative genre of canonical literature known as the penitential handbook. Over the past several decades, however, evidence for the use and circulation of continental canon law collections in pre-Conquest England has been mounting, to the extent that it could challenge traditional notions about the dominance of penitential law in the early English Church. This study presents new evidence for the reception in Anglo-Saxon England of a major continental collection known as theCollectio vetus Gallica.

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‘Ge mid wedde ge mid aðe’: the functions of oath and pledge in Anglo-Saxon legal culture

Historical Research ◽

10.1111/1468-2281.12024 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 86 (233) ◽

pp. 515-535 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Matthias Ammon

Keyword(s):

Legal Culture ◽

Anglo Saxon

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Neue Forschungen zum angelsächsischen Recht

Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Germanistische Abteilung ◽

10.7767/zrgga-2016-0113 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 133 (1) ◽

pp. 474-483

Author(s):

Daniela Fruscione

Keyword(s):

Essential Feature ◽

Legal Culture ◽

Point Of View ◽

Anglo Saxon ◽

University Of Oxford ◽

Linguistic Evidence ◽

New Research ◽

Early English ◽

The University

Abstract New research on Anglo-Saxon law. The article reviews five works connected to Anglo-Saxon legislation in different fields of research. The material for Volume II of Wormald’s opus magnum existed in various stages of development when Wormald died in 2004 and it is a miscellaneous collection of papers and lectures, partly delivered at the University of Oxford by the author. Roach is connected to the teachings of Wormald as a historian of kingship; challenging old models, Roach focuses with comparative eyes on the role of assemblies in Anglo-Saxon England as an essential feature of kingship. An „unaccustomed point of view“ on early English law is also held by Jurasinki/Falk who offer the 1st complete edition of Theodor’s canons and by Jurasinski’s work on those penitentials which gave advice on matters of secular law. In doing this he discovers not only that the scribes who translated them from Latin recasted them into new rules intended to better suit the needs of English laypeople, but also how wrong it is to assume that only kings participated in the creation of Anglo-Saxon legal culture. A review of works on early English legislation cannot avoid the question of language of the legal sources. They were mostly written in the Anglo-Saxon vernacular rather than in Latin like the continental leges. Hough brings together historical and linguistic evidence and explores various aspects of the legal system of Anglo-Saxon England, focusing particularly on the interpretation of laws on the position of women in society.

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