The Spiritual Jurisdiction in Reformation Scotland: A Legal History

by Thomas Green

Overview

Thomas Green examines the Scottish Reformation from a new perspective – the legal system and lawyers. For the leading lawyers of the day, the Scottish Reformation presented a constitutional and jurisdictional crisis of the first order. In the face of such a challenge moderate judges, lawyers and officers of state sought to restore order in a time of revolution by retaining much of the medieval legacy of Catholic law and order in Scotland. Green covers the Wars of the Congregation, the Reformation Parliament, the legitimacy of the Scottish government from 1558 to 1561, the courts of the early Church of Scotland and the legal significance of Mary Stewart’s personal reign. He also considers neglected aspects of the Reformation, including the roles of the Court of Session and of the Court of the Commissaries of Edinburgh.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748699988
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	07/14/2019
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Thomas M. Green is Lecturer in Private Law at the University of Aberdeen. He holds degrees in history, historical theology and ecclesiastical history, is a former British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Law, University of Edinburgh, and is a former Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Law, University of Glasgow.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The Suppression of the Courts of the Catholic Church in Scotland; 2. Revolution and Law: The Reformation Parliament, the Proclamation of Leith, and the Law of Oblivion; 3. Papal and Episcopal Jurisdiction in Scotland following the Reformation Crisis; 4. The Rise of the Courts of the Church of Scotland; 5. The Lords of Council and Session; 6. The Court of the Commissaries of Edinburgh; 7. The Commissary Courts and the Jurisdiction of the Courts of the Church of Scotland; Conclusion; Appendix; Outline Chronology; Select Bibliography; Index.