“Kenning be Kenning and Course be Course”: Maritime Jurimetrics in Scotland and Northern Europe 1400—1600

1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADM Forte
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Maritime Law ◽  
Visible Points ◽  
Open Sea ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Texts ◽  
Coastal Topography

This article explores thejurimetric significance ofa phrase orformula, “kenning be kenning and course be course”, used in maritime law texts and disputes in late medieval and early modern Scotland and England. On open sea voyages, knowing one's position and using that knowledge to plot the next stage of the trip depended, not only on topographical knowledge ofcoasts and theirfeatures, but also on knowledge ofthe “kennings” (sightings, or the distances between two visible points of coastal topography) encountered on coastal voyages or at the end ofa sea-going passage, as well as knowledge ofthe “courses” to be sailed in the latter case. Knowing howfar a vessel had travelled was also crucial in actionsfor payment offreight pro rata itineris orfor payment of wages. The several versions of the Judgments of the Sea used in northern Europe stated what the law was in such disputes, but the remedies given were dependent on a calculation ofdistance in either kennings or courses. The Scottish contextfor this practice is explored in detail.

Triple-Deckers and Eagle Lecterns: Church Furniture for the Book in Late Medieval and Early Modern England

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 143-152
Author(s):  
Susan Wabuda
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Cost

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.’ When Jesus stood up to read these verses from Isaiah at the start of his public ministry, as he began to reveal himself as the Word in the synagogue of Nazareth, the book ‘he had opened’ at the reading desk was one of the Torah scrolls, brought out for him from the Ark of the Law, the imposing reserve which is, from age to age, the most sacred part of any synagogue. Holy Scripture has always been a public book, a treasure for each synagogue, and for the commonwealth of the Christian community sacred as text and object. But the mystical sanctity of the Bible, and holy books in general, has raised a perennial problem. Precious books have usually been hedged round by restrictions to protect them from the profane, even at the cost of obscuring the public approach which is a necessary part of assembled worship. In this episode in the life of Christ, when the listeners grew too ‘filled with wrath’ for him to continue, we meet the deep and recurrent tension between the community’s need to hear the Word, and the conflicting desire to shield its essential sanctity, which accompanied the book from Judaism in transition to the Christian Church.

Maritime Law and Practice in Late Medieval Aberdeen

2010 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edda Frankot
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Maritime Law ◽  
Northern European ◽  
European Tradition ◽  
Written Law ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
North Western

This article examines maritime law and its use in legal practice in late medieval Aberdeen. It is argued that, although several copies of a Scottish translation of the ‘Rôles d'Oléron’, a French sea law, were available in Scotland, written law collections were rarely used in court proceedings. Rather, judgments were ‘concluded’ or ‘found’ based on common sense. Some of these judgments did, nonetheless, correspond to regulations laid down in the ‘Rôles d'Oléron’, or to verdicts from legal practice recorded elsewhere in northern Europe. Although no common tradition of maritime law and practice existed in northern Europe, Aberdeen practice appears to have been significantly different from that of other northern European towns, suggesting that Aberdeen may have been part of a separate north-western European tradition instead.

The Role of Women in Pursuing Scottish Criminal Actions, 1580–1650

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-250
Author(s):  
Stephanie Dropuljic
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
The Law ◽  
Role Of Women

This article examines the role of women in raising criminal actions of homicide before the central criminal court, in early modern Scotland. In doing so, it highlights the two main forms of standing women held; pursing an action for homicide alone and as part of a wider group of kin and family. The evidence presented therein challenges our current understanding of the role of women in the pursuit of crime and contributes to an under-researched area of Scots criminal legal history, gender and the law.

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