Papal pronouncements on legitimate lordship and the formulation of nationhood in early fourteenth-century Scottish writings
Early fourteenth-century Scotland produced some of the period's clearest expressions of nationhood, most famously with the so-called Declaration of Arbroath of 1320. Despite the letter's fame, its conceptual language and that of related Scottish texts has not hitherto been entirely recognised. The present article demonstrates that these writings are closely informed by contemporary legal ideas concerning lawful jurisdiction and just war. Their use of legal ideas can be shown to have been inspired by the concerns and outlook of the papacy, particularly with regard to its temporal lordship in Italy. It is this inspiration that can explain the clarity and force with which the Scottish texts of these decades present the kingdom as specifically Scottish and the nation as a political force, for which they have since become renowned.
The Maccabees as Exemplars in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries
When the court chaplain Wipo produced his Gesta Chuonradi in 1046 as an instruction in kingship for the young Henry III, he prefaced it with an indictment of contemporary writers’ laziness in failing to chronicle the deeds of their great men, although convenient models had been provided by pagan authors and Old Testament historians. The latter, in describing David’s single combats, Solomon’s counsel, Gideon’s magnanimity, and the battles of the Maccabees, had created a remarkable series of biographies illustrative of the different ways in which a man could serve the common weal. Their achievement deserved imitation. The main drift of Wipo’s argument is unfortunately too broad a theme for discussion here. What concerns us is simply that for him the Maccabees were the archetypes of heroic warriors, and that he expected his audience to be as familiar with their exploits as he was himself.
A Historical Introduction to the Law of Obligations
1 PROLOGUE: THE PREHISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LAW OF OBLIGATIONS 2 STRUCTURAL FOUNDATIONS 3 UNITY AND FRAGMENTATION OF THE MEDIAEVAL LAW OF CONTRACT 4 TRESPASS, TRESPASS ON THE CASE, AND THE MEDIAEVAL LAW OF TORT 5 THE SUBSTANTIVE LAW OF TORTS 6 THE SUBSTANTIVE LAW OF CONTRACT PART 2 THE TRIUMPH OF TRESPASS ON THE CASE 7 TORT, PROPERTY, AND REPUTATION: THE EXPANSION OF THE ACTION ON THE CASE 8 THE RISE OF THE ACTION OF ASSUMPSIT PART 3 THE MODERN LAW OF TORT AND CONTRACT 9 TRESPASS, CASE, AND THE MORAL BASIS OF LIABILITY 10 THE LAW OF TORTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE RISE OF THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE 11 THE LAW OF TORTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: EXPANSION AND COLLAPSE OF THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE 12 FOUNDATIONS OF THE MODERN LAW OF CONTRACT 13 THE RISE OF THE WILL THEORY THE WILL THEORY AND THE CLASSICAL MODEL OF CONTRACT 14 THE DECLINE OF THE WILL THEORY: LEGAL REGULATION AND CONTRACTUAL FAIRNESS PART 4 UNJUST ENRICHMENT 15 UNJUST ENRICHMENT 16 LEGAL CHANGE AND LEGAL CONTINUITY