Description
Book SynopsisLaw and Empire provides a comparative view of legal practices in Asia and Europe, from Antiquity to the eighteenth century. It relates the main principles of legal thinking in Chinese, Islamic, and European contexts to practices of lawmaking and adjudication. In particular, it shows how legal procedure and legal thinking could be used in strikingly different ways. Rulers could use law effectively as an instrument of domination; legal specialists built their identity, livelihood and social status on their knowledge of law; and non-elites exploited the range of legal fora available to them. This volume shows the relevance of legal pluralism and the social relevance of litigation for premodern power structures.
Table of ContentsNotes on editors and contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Part I. Legal Authority and Imperial Frameworks 1 Polly Low, ‘Law, Authority and Legitimacy in the Athenian Empire’ 2 Harries, Jill, ´Roman Law from City State to World Empire´ 3 Karen Gottschang Turner, Laws, Bureaucrats, and Imperial Women in China’s Early Empires 4 Akarli, Engin: ‘The Ruler and Law Making in the Ottoman Empire’ 5 Härter, Karl, ‘The Early Modern Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (1495-1806): a Multi-layered Legal System’. Part II. Institutionalising Empire: Practices of Lawmaking and Adjudication 6 Hurvitz, Nimrod, ‘The Contribution of Early Islamic Rulers to Adjudication and Legislation: the Case of the Mazalim Tribunals’ 7 Rhijn, Carine van, ‘Charlemagne and the Government of the Frankish Countryside’ 8 Królikowska, Natalia, ´The law factor in Ottoman- Crimean Tatar Relations in the Early Modern Period´ 9 Guy, R. Kent, ‘Qing Imperial Justice? The Case of Li Shiyao’ Part III. Legal Pluralism in Empires: Encounters and Responses 10 Humfress, Caroline, ‘Thinking through legal pluralism: ‘Forum shopping’ in the Later Roman Empire 11 Hoppenbrouwers, Peter, ‘Leges Nationum and Ethnic Personality of Law in Charlemagne’s Empire’ 12 Anastasopoulos, Antonios, ‘Non-Muslims and Ottoman Justice(s?)’ 13 Murphy, Neil, ‘Royal Grace, Royal Punishment: Ceremonial Entries and the Pardoning of Criminals in France, c. 1440-1560’ 14 Haar, Barend ter, ‘Divine violence to Uphold Moral Values. The Casebook of an Emperor Guan Temple in Hunan Province in 1851-1852’ Index
