Liberty and law : the idea of permissive natural law, 1100-1800 / Brian Tierney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tierney, Brian, author.

Series:

Studies in medieval and early modern canon law ; v. 12.

Studies in medieval and early modern canon law

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Natural law--History.

Natural law.

History.

Law--Philosophy.

Law.

Physical Description:

xii, 380 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : The Catholic University of America Press, [2014]

Summary:

Liberty and Law examines a previously underappreciated theme in legal history-the idea of permissive natural law. The idea is mentioned only peripherally, if at all, in modern histories of natural law. Yet it engaged the attention of jurists, philosophers, and theologians over a long period of time and formed an integral part of their teachings. This ensured that natural law was not conceived of as merely a set of commands and prohibitions that restricted human conduct, but also as affirming a realm of human freedom, understood as both freedom from subjection and freedom of choice. Freedom can be used in many ways, and throughout the whole period from 1100 to 1800 the idea of permissive natural law was deployed for a variety of purposes in response to different problems that arose. It was frequently invoked to explain the origin of private property and the beginnings of civil government. Medieval canonists used the concept of permissive natural law to harmonize the discordant texts that they found in their sources; William of Ockham found it a powerful tool in his defense of Franciscan poverty against papal criticisms; for Richard Hooker it justified both the constitutional structure and the ritual practices of the Anglican church; John Selden used it to uphold the inviolability of contracts, most importantly the contract of government; Hugo Grotius made it a central theme in his treatment of the conduct permissible in waging war; in the eighteenth century Jean Barbeyrac and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui associated the idea with the emerging doctrine of natural rights. In Liberty and Law, Tierney has presented us with a magisterial and provocative way of interpreting legal history. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I. Foundations. Early sources : Stoic and Christian

Canonistic jurisprudence

Part II. Thirteenth-century theologians. Parisian masters

Thomas Aquinas

Part III. Fourteenth-century variations. William of Ockham

Marsilius of Padua

Johannes Andreae

Part IV. Indifferent things : Adiaphora in the church. Reformation Adiaphora : Lutherans and Anglicans

Richard Hooker

Part V. Natural law and international law : Suarez and Grotius. Francisco Suarez

Hugo Grotius

Part VI. For and against : Selden, Pufendorf, and some critics. John Selden

Samuel Pufendorf

Critics of Pufendorf : Barbeyrac and Burlamaqui

Part. VII. Natural law and the German enlightenment. Wolff to Kant

Immanuel Kant : permissive law and property.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780813225814

0813225817

OCLC:

865543804