Skip to main content

IMC 2007: Sessions

Session 615: Law and Justice in the City, IV: Justice and Sanctuary in the City

Tuesday 10 July 2007, 11.15-12.45

Moderator/Chair:Paul R. Hyams, Department of History, Cornell University / Independent Scholar, Oxford
Paper 615-aSummary Justice in 13th-Century Italian Cities: A Panoramic Study
(Language: English)
Andrea Marchisello, Dipartimento di Studi Giuridici, Università degli studi di Verona
Index terms: Administration, Canon Law, Law, Social History
Paper 615-bOyer and Terminer in Town and Country
(Language: English)
G. R. Boynton, Department of Political Science, University of Iowa
Index terms: Demography, Law, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 615-cA Case Study of Sanctuary: The Town of Beverley and the Monastic Church of St John
(Language: English)
Paulette Barton, Department of History, University of Maine, Orono
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Law, Local History, Monasticism
Abstract

Paper a: Before papal legislation (clementina 'Saepe') defined authoritatively in the early 14th century the rules of summary justice, the use of abbreviated procedures, less formal and solemn if compared to normal 'ordo iuris', is attested – besides doctrinal works and papal delegations – by statutory law. This paper is aimed at providing a review of the presence and diffusion of the 'clausulae diminuentes iuris ordinem' (for instance de plano, summarie, simpliciter, sine figura iudicij) in the statutes of Italian cities, in order to determine which ones were most frequent, which differences they introduced into ordinary procedure, and which kinds of controversies were scheduled as summary or abbreviated.
Paper b: Oyer and terminer was one of the important mechanisms for maintaining law and order during the reign of Edward III. With the exception of commissions initiated by the king the commissions reflect the loci of concerns of his men. I will trace changes in the number of commissions issued for town and country as well as differences in the focus of the commissions using information drawn from the Calendar of Patent Rolls for the entire 14th century. This provides one marker of the changing demographic distribution during the 14th century, at least, as it was reflected in government activity.
Paper c: The story of sanctuary in Beverley involves the integration of church and town into a place of sanctuary. Milestones were placed in a circle around the town of Beverley at a distance on a mile from the church of St John and formed the boundaries of the sanctuary. The right of sanctuary began at the milestone and those in pursuit were turned away whether king's men or vengeful relatives. In this paper I will examine the law of sanctuary and how the ecclesiastical and secular functioned to create a sanctuary town.