Sanctuary and Crime in the Middle Ages, 400-1500

Sanctuary and Crime in the Middle Ages, 400-1500
ISBN-10
0823232689
ISBN-13
9780823232680
Category
History
Pages
269
Language
English
Published
2011
Publisher
Fordham Univ Press
Author
Karl Shoemaker

Description

Sanctuary law has not received very much scholarly attention. According to the prevailing explanation among earlier generations of legal historians, sanctuary was an impediment to effective criminal law and social control but was made necessary by rampant violence and weak political order in the medieval world. Contrary to the conclusions of the relatively scant literature on the topic, Sanctuary and Crime in the Middle Ages, 400-1500 argues that the practice of sanctuary was not simply an instrumental device intended as a response to weak and splintered medieval political authority. Nor can sanctuary laws be explained as simple ameliorative responses to harsh medieval punishments and the specter of uncontrolled blood-feuds. --

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