| Description |
1 online resource (vi, 352 pages) |
| Contents |
Frontcover; Contents; Illustrations; Introduction; PART I. LAYING DOWN THE LAW: 600-1500; 1 The Promulgation of the Law in Anglo-Saxon England; 2 The Enforcement of the Law in Anglo-Saxon England; 3 A Norman Yoke?; 4 Henry II and the Creation of the Common Law; 5 Becket and Criminous Clergy; 6 The Achievement of Henry II; 7 Magna Carta; 8 From Ordeal to Jury; 9 Legal Eagles; PART II. CONFLICT OF LAWS: 1500-1766; 10 The King's Conscience, the Lord Chancellor's Foot; 11 Star Chamber: Keeping England in Quiet; 12 Torture; 13 The Writ and Charter of Liberty; 14 Rex Lex v. Lex Rex: Sir Edward Coke |
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15 Oedipus Lex: The Trial of Charles I16 Free-born John; 17 From Restoration to Revolution and Reaction; PART III. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE LAW: 1766-1907; 18 The Purity of England's Air; 19 The Menace of the Mob; 20 The Fear of the Felon; 21 Garrow's Law?; 22 The Tongue of Cicero: Thomas Erskine; 23 The Drum Major of Liberty: Henry Brougham; 24 The Bonfire of the Inanities: Peel, Public Protection and the Police; 25 Lunacy and the Law; 26 Necessity Knows No Law; 27 The Apollo of the Bar: Edward Marshall Hal; PART IV. THE RULE OF LAW: 1907-2014 |
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28 'The Martyrdom of Adolph Beck' and the Creation of the Court of Criminal Appeal29 Liberty Sacrificed to Security; 30 Nuremberg and Norman Birkett; 31 Wrongs and Rights; 32 Deprave and Corrupt: Blasphemy, Obscenity and Oscar Wilde; 33 Hanging in the Balance; 34 A Murder in Catfor; 35 The Rule of Law under Threat?; Bibliography; Index |
| Summary |
"Throughout English history the rule of law and the preservation of liberty have been inseparable, and both are intrinsic to England's constitution. This accessible and entertaining history traces the growth of the law from its beginnings in Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. It shows how the law evolved from a means of ensuring order and limiting feuds to become a supremely sophisticated dispenser of justice and the primary guardian of civil liberties. This development owed much to the English kings and their judiciary, who, in the twelfth century, forged a unified system of law - predating that of any other European country - from almost wholly Anglo-Saxon elements. Yet by the seventeenth century this royal offspring - Oedipus Lex it could be called - was capable of regicide. Since then the law has had a somewhat fractious relationship with that institution upon which the regal mantle of supreme power descended, Parliament. This book tells the story of the common law not merely by describing major developments but by concentrating on prominent personalities and decisive cases relating to the constitution, criminal jurisprudence, and civil liberties. It investigates the great constitutional conflicts, the rise of advocacy, and curious and important cases relating to slavery, insanity, obscenity, cannibalism, the death penalty, and miscarriages of justice. The book concludes by examining the extension of the law into the prosecution of war criminals and protection of universal human rights and the threats posed by over-reaction to national emergencies and terrorism. Devoid of jargon and replete with good stories, Law, Liberty and the Constitution represents a new approach to the telling of legal history and will be of interest to anyone wishing to know more about the common law - the spinal cord of the English body politic. Harry Potter is a former fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge and a practising barrister specialising in criminal defence. He has authored books on the death penalty and Scottish history and wrote and presented an award-winning series on the history of the common law for the BBC." |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-333) and index |
| Notes |
Vendor-supplied metadata |
| Subject |
Common law -- England -- History
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LAW -- Essays.
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LAW -- General Practice.
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LAW -- Jurisprudence.
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LAW -- Paralegals & Paralegalism.
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LAW -- Practical Guides.
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LAW -- Reference.
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HISTORY -- Europe -- Great Britain.
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Common law
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Juryrechtspraak.
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Common law.
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Rechtsontwikkeling.
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Great Britain.
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England.
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Common law.
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Legal history.
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England
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Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland.
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781782044819 |
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1782044817 |
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9781782045236 |
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1782045236 |
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