Law and legality in the Greek East : the Byzantine canonical tradition, 381-883 / David Wagschal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wagschal, David.

Series:

Oxford early Christian studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Canon law--Eastern churches--History--To 1500.

Canon law.

Law, Byzantine.

Canon law--Eastern churches.

History.

Physical Description:

xx, 331 pages.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Summary:

Byzantine church law remains terra incognita to most scholars in the western academy. In this work, David Wagschal provides a fresh examination of this neglected but fascinating world. Confronting the traditional narratives of decline and primitivism that have long discouraged study of the subject, Wagschal argues that a close reading of the central monuments of Byzantine canon law c.381-883 reveals a much more sophisticated and coherent legal culture than is generally assumed. Engaging in innovative examinations of the physical shape and growth of the canonical corpus, the content of the canonical prologues, the discursive strategies of the canons, and the nature of the earliest forays into systematization, Wagschal invites his readers to reassess their own legal-cultural assumptions as he advances an innovative methodology for understanding this ancient law. Law and Legality in the Greek East explores topics such as compilation, jurisprudence, professionalization, definitions of law, the language of the canons, and the relationship between the civil and ecclesiastical laws. It challenges conventional assumptions about Byzantine law while suggesting many new avenues of research in both late antique and early medieval law, secular and ecclesiastical. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Shape of the Law 24

A Introduction: the shape of the law 24

B Manuscripts and editions: preliminary problems 24

C A survey of the textual history of Byzantine canon law 381-883 32

D Major contours of the tradition 50

E Analysis: the law takes shape 83

2 Introducing the Law 88

A Introduction: introducing the law 88

B Description of the texts 90

C Central themes, priorities, problems 122

D Analysis: the law introduced 136

3 The Language of the Law 138

A Introduction: the language of the law 138

B Nomenclature 138

C Genre 153

D Structure and dispositive vocabulary of the canonical rules 162

E The legal language of the canons 169

F The non-legal legal language of the canons? 190

G Analysis: the language of the law 219

4 Systematizing the Law 223

A Introduction: systematizing the law 223

B Origin and dating 224

C Self-presentation 230

D Morphology 233

E Source selection 235

F The nature and constitution of the rubrics 236

G Order and structure in the systematic indices 257

H Analysis: systematizing the law? 271.

ISBN:

9780198722601

0198722605

OCLC:

894270767