Syracuse University              ORANGESEAL.GIF (6724 bytes)
History 381/615 Foundations of Modern Law

 

Ken Pennington

313B Maxwell Hall

Office Hours: 2:00-3:00 MWF

tel. 443-4750

Email: Penningk@maxwell.syr.edu  and Kpennin1@twcny.rr.com  (Click on addresses to send Email)

 
  profess3.gif (44155 bytes)Required books:

 

J.M. Kelly, A Short History of Western Legal Theory, Oxford $35.00

Manlio Bellomo, The Common Legal Past of Europe, Catholic $18.95

Justinian, The Digest of Roman Law, Penguin $11.95

Gratian, Treatise on Laws, Catholic, $14.95

James A. Brundage, Medieval Canon Law, Longman, $30.00

John Henry Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition, 2nd Edition, Stanford, $8.76

 

Compare prices!  The books can be bought from Amazon.com or from Barnes and Noble for the price quoted after the book.

 

The following readings can also be borrowed in hardcopy at my office


Ken Pennington, "Bartolome de Las Casas and Medieval Legal Tradition"

Ken Pennington, "Roman and Secular Law in the Middle Ages"

Ken Pennington, "Spirit of Legal History"

Ken Pennington, "Due Process, Community, and the Prince in the Evolution of the Ordo iudiciarius"

 Ken Pennington, "Learned Law, droit savant, gelehrtes Recht:  The Tyranny of a Concept"

Homepage for History 381: http://classes.maxwell.syr.edu/his381

The Homepage for this course will provide internet links that you will find useful for the course. You will be informed by Email when links or material are added to the Homepage that you should consult. There are required readings on the Homepage for which you will be responsible.

Email Requirement

I want to hear from you regularly by Email, at least once a week. This is a requirement of the course. In your first message to me, I would like to know something about yourself and why you are interested in law.

 

Lectures 

Introduction, Definition of Terms, Conceptions of Legal History

           Introduction to the Jurisprudence of Law

Readings:     Ken Pennington, "Spirit of Legal History"

I. Ancient Law and Roman Law

            Ancient World Map

Readings: Kelly, chapters  1-2, Justinian

Code of Hammurabi 

Procedure in Code of Hammurabi

Map of Babylonia

Code of Gortyn

Hammurabi.jpg (16311 bytes)

Hammurabi's stele with his code inscribed on it
Law of the Twelve Tables
Lex Aquilia
Justinian's Institutes

Justinian's Digest and Code on Marriage

 

Bibliography and Readings for Roman Law

 

        Justinian's Empire

    Questions for Midterm Examination

II. Barbarian Law

Readings: Kelly, chapter 3, Bellomo, chapter 2, Brundage, chapter 2,

Salian Frank Law

Ordeals
 
Pennington, Roman and Secular Law in the Middle Ages

            

III. Revival of Law in the Twelfth Century: The Rebirth of Roman Law, and the Evolution of Canon and Feudal Law:

Gratian, De legibus

The evolution of procedure in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Key terms:  Cognitio extraordinaria, ordeal, and ordo iudiciarius

Readings: Kelly, chapter 4, Bellomo, Chapters 3,5,6; Gratian, Decretum, Distinctiones 1-20; Brundage, chapter 3, Pennington, "Due Process"

IV. The Common Laws of Europe

         England and France 1150-1200

       Constitutions of Clarendon    Prologue

       Assize of Clarendon

       Writs

       Development of the Jury

Magna Carta

Bracton, De legibus     Bracton, Introduction
 

Readings: Bellomo, Chapter 4, Brundage, chapters 4-7

V. The Modern World: The Codification of Law

                Codification 1231-1900
Readings: Kelly, chapter 8-9, Bellomo, Chapter 1
VI. Law in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe: "Rights-Based"   Jurisprudence

Rights of Property, Contract, and Marriage

Readings: Kelly, chapter 5-7, Bellomo, Chapter 7, Brundage, chapter 8

  Pennington, "Due Process, Community, and the Prince in the Evolution of the Ordo iudiciarius"   Pennington,  Innocent until Proven Guilty:  Origins of a Maxim

Pennington, "Bartolome de Las Casas", 

  Pennington, Rights in the Seventeenth Century:  Emanuel Gonzalez Tellez

For a discussion of the concept of Ius commune, read Pennington, "Tyranny of a Concept."     Also this review of a book by Tierney will help you to understand the main developments of natural rights in premodern legal thought: Review of Tierney

           

 

 

        VII. A Comparison of the Civil and Common Law Traditions

Readings: Kelly, chapter 10, Merryman, The Civil Law Tradition

 

Final Examination Essay

 
Examinations: There will be two essay examination papers, a Mid-Term and a Final. Both examination papers will be a series of essays on the materials of the course that will be written out of class. The Mid-term examination will be due Monday, October 11th and the final at the end of the semester, December 21st. The examinations should be printed in no smaller than 12pt typeface, double-spaced, with margins of 1" right and left. The pages should be numbered. The essays will be graded for content, syntax, and grammar.  Graduate Students will write a research paper in addition to the examination papers.