Religious Culture and Customary Legal Tradition: Historical Foundations of European Market Development

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard P. Liggio
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Nuclear Family ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Commercial World ◽  
The World

AbstractThis paper traces back the sources of our present legal system and of market economy to Medieval Europe which itself benefited from Hellenistic and Roman legal culture and commercial practices. Roman provinces placed Rome in the wider Greek cultural and commercial world. If Aristotle was already transcending the narrow polis-based conceptions of his predecessors, after him Hellenistic Civilization saw the emergence of a new school of philosophy: Stoicism. The legal thought in the Latin West will hence be characterized by Cicero’s writings and its Stoic sources. The Roman legal system was similar to the later northern European customary law and the English common law; Roman law was evolutionary and customary. The rise of Western individualism, whether it dates back to St. Augustine in the fifth century, or to the two Papal Revolutions of Gregory I (establishing the nuclear family as the core of individualism) and of Gregory VII, also played a crucial role in shaping the western legal tradition. The paper describes the main forces that led to this second (Gregorian) revolution. Monasticism is one of them. Benedictine monasticism plaid a leading role in the Peace of God Movement. Hence collective oath-taking by groups in the name of peace was essential in the founding of cities and in the formation of guilds. Europe’s economic resurgence in the Eleventh Century was on the basis of the creation of the rule of law by the Peace of God movement. This movement also allowed for Europe’s agricultural economy to progress. Indeed, the European Middle Ages is one of the major periods of technological innovation in the history of the world. The Gregorian Revolution itself was supported and financed by the Commercial Revolution: Italian bankers sustained Papal reformers against the Emperors. The independence of the Italian cities and provinces reveals one of the most important consequences of the Gregorian Revolution: the polycentricism of Western Europe. This Revolution also witnessed the first large number of political pamphlets in European history; the Gregorian clergy emphasizing a compact theory of government. Soon after, the order of Cistercians was founded (1098) and underwent spectacular growth during the next two centuries. The Cistercians accepted no rents or labor services from feudal donors but would take only full possession of land to do with it as they wished.These monasteries were the most economically effective units that had ever existed in Europe, and perhaps in the world, before that time. Finally, the Magna Carta (1215) that will be so influential on modern political thought can be seen as a direct consequence of the Gregorian Revolution.

The Stigmata in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Muessig
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Introductory Overview ◽  
Devotional Practices ◽  
The Face ◽  
Biblical Commentaries

Francis of Assisi’s reported reception of the stigmata on Mount La Verna in 1224 is often considered to be the first account of an individual receiving the five wounds of Christ. The thirteenth-century appearance of this miracle, however, is not as unexpected as it first seems. Interpretations of Galatians 6:17—I bear the stigmata of the Lord Jesus Christ in my body—had been circulating in biblical commentaries since late antiquity. These works explained stigmata as wounds that martyrs received, like the apostle Paul, in their attempt to spread Christianity in the face of resistance. By the seventh century, stigmata were described as marks of Christ that priests received invisibly at their ordination. In the eleventh century, monks and nuns were perceived as bearing the stigmata in so far as they lived a life of renunciation out of love for Christ. By the later Middle Ages holy women like Catherine of Siena (d. 1380) were more frequently described as having stigmata than their male counterparts. With the religious upheavals of the sixteenth century, the way stigmata were defined reflected the diverse perceptions of Christianity held by Catholics and Protestants. This study traces the birth and evolution of religious stigmata as expressed in theological discussions and devotional practices in Western Europe from the early Middle Ages to the early seventeenth century. It also contains an introductory overview of the historiography of religious stigmata beginning in the second half of the seventeenth century to its treatment and assessment in the twenty-first century.

11. Roman Law and the European Ius Commune

2020 ◽  
pp. 359-394
Author(s):  
Paul J. du Plessis
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Conceptual Basis ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Ius Commune ◽  
The World ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Formed Part

The term European ius commune (in its historical sense) signifies that, from the fourteenth to the start of the sixteenth centuries, most of Europe shared a common legal tradition. Many local and regional variations on the law existed, but the terminology, concepts, and structure provided by elements of Roman law provided a common framework. This chapter traces how Justinian’s codification came to influence the modern world. The influence of Roman law in the modern world is immense: it constitutes the historical and conceptual basis of many legal systems throughout the world. Its impact has not been confined to those countries in Western Europe that historically formed part of the Roman Empire. Wherever Europeans went, they normally took their law (usually based to some extent on the principles of Roman law) with them.

Western Christian Contacts with Buddhism, c.1050–1350

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 80-91
Author(s):  
Bernard Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Latin Translation ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Western Scholar ◽  
Mongol Empire ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Contemplative Life ◽  
Latin Version

The existence of Buddhism was known to some people in the Graeco-Roman world. Writing about two centuries after the birth of Christ, Clement of Alexandria recorded: ‘Some of the Indians obey the precepts of Buddha, whom, on account of his extraordinary sanctity, they have raised to divine honours.’ No Latin translation was made of this part of Clement’s work, and nothing was known of Buddhism in Western Europe in the early Middle Ages. In 1048 an anonymous Western scholar living in Constantinople made a Latin translation from the Greek of a story called Barlaam and Ioasaph, which was wrongly attributed to John of Damascus (d. c.75o).This appeared to be a saint’s life: it told how the Indian prince Ioasaph had renounced the world and embraced an austere ascetic life under the direction of the hermit Barlaam. In fact, this was a life of Prince Gautama, the Buddha. This version had originated in the kingdom of Bactria and had been translated into Arabic and later into Georgian, from which the Greek version was made in the early eleventh century. In the process of transmission the text had been Christianized. Prince Ioasaph, who renounced earthly glory to lead the contemplative life, fitted easily into the pattern of Christian hagiography, and his life proved popular because of its exotic setting in the Indies. During the Middle Ages the Latin version was translated into most Western languages, but Western people remained ignorant of Buddhism until the rise of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century made it possible for them to travel to central and eastern Asia.

scholarly journals Legal Pluralism within The Space of Sharia: Interlegality of Criminal Law Traditions in Aceh, Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 426
Author(s):  
Dedy Sumardi ◽  
Ratno Lukito ◽  
Moch Nur Ichwan
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
National Legal System ◽  
Psychological Pressure ◽  
Women And Children

This article aims to analyze various legal traditions working within the implementation of Islamic law after special autonomy in Aceh. Although Aceh's legal system follows the national legal system derived from civil law, diverse legal traditions still exist. The scope of this study is limited to the interaction of Aceh's legal traditions by taking the construction of juvenile and immoral criminal law and describing the social authorities who also operate the legal tradition to the parties in the case. This study presents the results using a case study model. Data obtained from interviews and documentation, analyzed using an interlegality approach. Based on the results of data analysis, it was found that the dialectic of legal traditions is determined by the role of actors acting as companions for victims to ensure that the rights of victims are not neglected. The traditions of Islamic law, customary law, and laws for protecting women and children are used interchangeably. The effort to combine these three legal traditions was carried out to obtain justice and guarantee the fulfillment of the victim's civil rights, such as the right to continue education, to relieve the trauma caused by the psychological pressure. The amalgamation of legal traditions in Aceh is an effective way to achieve justice for women and children and the construction of new laws to develop a national legal system that favors the interests of victims.

Temporal and Spiritual Regalia during the Reigns of St. Louis and Philip III

Traditio ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 351-383
Author(s):  
Gerard J. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Lay Leaders ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right ◽  
Gregorian Reform ◽  
Spiritual Freedom ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Middle Ages

The Gregorian reform of the eleventh century mounted a massive attack on lay control over churches and church appointments, yet the degree to which this attack succeeded in attaining its objectives varied from country to country. Local conditions and personalities were important in determining the outcome of the struggle over investiture and other related questions, but neither side achieved a complete victory, because the final agreements between clerical and lay leaders were a compromise which produced the usual mixture of satisfaction and disappointment. The church gained the most substantial victory, for the smothering stranglehold of the laity over the church and churchmen was broken, nevermore to be restored in the Middle Ages. Increased spiritual freedom for the church in subsequent centuries resulted from the struggle of the mid-eleventh century. Nevertheless, the church had not broken completely from its close ties with the world of feudalism. If bishoprics, abbeys, and parish churches were not feudal possessions of kings and nobles, laymen still retained many rights reminiscent of the earlier days when laymen claimed a proprietary right over the churches in their areas. The purpose of this paper is to consider one of these remnants of earlier days: the right of regalia I will examine the right of regalia, temporal and spiritual, together with some related institutions during the reigns of St. Louis and Philip III of France.

From England to France

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Chester Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Hundred Years War ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
English Law ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Middle Ages

At the height of the Middle Ages, a peculiar system of perpetual exile— or abjuration—flourished in western Europe. It was a judicial form of exile, not political or religious, and it was meted out to felons for crimes deserving of severe corporal punishment or death. This book explores the lives of these men and women who were condemned to abjure the English realm, and draws on their unique experiences to shed light on a medieval legal tradition until now very poorly understood. The book weaves an historical tapestry, examining the judicial and administrative processes that led to the abjuration of more than seventy-five thousand English subjects, and recounting the astonishing journeys of the exiles themselves. Some were innocents caught up in tragic circumstances, but many were hardened criminals. Almost every English exile departed from the port of Dover, many bound for the same French village, a place called Wissant. The book vividly describes what happened when the felons got there, and tells the stories of the few who managed to return to England, either illegally or through pardons. The book provides new insights into a fundamental pillar of medieval English law and shows how it collapsed amid the bloodshed of the Hundred Years' War.

Nationalism in Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages

1972 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitri Obolensky
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
General Definition ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Politics ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

The divergent views held by historians and sociologists as to what does and does not constitute nationalism will, I hope, provide me with some excuse for not attempting here a general definition of this phenomenon. Nor will I presume to adjudicate between the opinions of scholars like Hans Kohn who, confining their attention to Western Europe, will not hear of nationalism before the rise of modern states between the sixteenth and the eighteenth century, and of historians like G. G. Coulton who, after surveying the policy of the Papacy, the life of the Universities, the internal frictions in the monasteries and the history of medieval warfare, concluded that nationalism, which had been developing in Western Europe since the eleventh century, became a basic factor in European politics by the fourteenth. My paper is concerned with the medieval history of Eastern Europe: an area which I propose to define, by combining a geographical with a cultural criterion, as the group of countries which lay within the political or cultural orbit of Byzantium. The subject is vast and complex, and I can do no more than select a few topics for discussion. These I would like to present as arguments in support of three theses.

Innovation in a Hybrid System: The Example of Nepal

2013 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Lukas Heckendorn Urscheler
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Hybrid System ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
The Supreme Court

The Nepali legal tradition is a legal hybrid in many regards. Nepal was not colonised by a Western state, and the Hindu legal tradition therefore dominated all areas of law until the middle of the 20th century. Since the 1950s there has been a strong influence of Indian common law. It is probably for this reason that comparative classifications that include Nepal see the legal system as a mixture of common law and customary law. However, other mixtures mark the Nepali legal tradition. French law inspired the ruler in the 19th century, and that influence can still be found in the formal law. In addition, the plurality of Nepalese society made it necessary to provide space for different customary regimes to coexist with the formal Hindu law. When it comes to innovations within the legal system, including international law, the different ingredients interact.In family-related matters, the case-law of the Nepali Supreme Court illustrates the confrontation between international legal standards and the traditional rules. The Supreme Court has referred to the culturally conditioned discrimination against women and called for a thorough (political) analysis in order to eliminate discrimination without a radical change of culture. In the area of discrimination against homo- and transsexuals the Supreme Court took a more innovative approach. It remains to be seen, however, if such a change is effective beyond the courtroom.In the area of private financial compensation for wrongs, the formal (written) Nepali law does not have a general concept of tort. Compensation is generally integrated within the ambit of criminal law. Field research indicates that it would be possible to resort to existing customary principles of compensation rather than to the relatively complex common law of torts favoured by some Nepali scholars. However, this approach might not be without difficulty, as it might imply admitting the “superiority” of the customary practices of ethnic groups of lower standing in society.The example of Nepal shows that innovation in a hybrid system is often marked by the difficulty of – at least apparently – contradictory elements and layers of the legal system. There might be a tendency towards choosing the dominant or the most easily accessible solution. This paper suggests that the hybrid nature of the legal system offers opportunities that could be taken in order to achieve effective change and appropriate solutions.

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