IMC 2007: Sessions

Session 315: Law and Justice in the City, II: The Uses of Law in Late Medieval England

Organiser:	Cordelia Beattie, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
Moderator/Chair:	Jeremy Goldberg, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Paper 315-a	Memory, Geography and Gender in the Late Medieval Church Court of York (Language: English) Bronach Kane, Department of History, University of York Index terms: Gender Studies, Law, Mentalities
Paper 315-b	Women and the Late Medieval Court of Chancery (Language: English) Cordelia Beattie, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh Index terms: Law, Social History, Women’s Studies
Paper 315-c	Peculiar London: The Topography of Law in the Late Medieval Metropolis (Language: English) Shannon McSheffrey, Department of History, Concordia University, Montréal Index terms: Archives and Sources, Law, Social History
Abstract	The papers in this session will each examine how late medieval English people used the courts and legal processes in the social negotiation of their lives. Focusing on memory and gender, Bronach Kane will compare the types of events recalled in urban and rural settings in the York ecclesiastical court. Cordelia Beattie's paper will use Chancery petitions to discuss the debate about what kind of law was 'better' for women by showing how individuals used different jurisdictions to their advantage. Shannon McSheffrey’s paper will examine how Londoners used the City’s ecclesiastical peculiars or liberties to manipulate or escape legal proceedings.