Law and society in Puritan Massachusetts : Essex County, 1629-1692 / David Thomas Konig.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Konig, David Thomas, 1947-

Series:

Studies in legal history.

Studies in legal history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Law--Massachusetts--Essex County--History.

Law.

Puritans--Massachusetts--Essex County--History.

Puritans.

Essex County (Mass.)--History.

Essex County (Mass.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 215 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1979.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Distinguished by the critical value it assigns to law in Puritan society, this study describes precisely how the Massachusetts legal system differed from England's and how equity and an adapted common law became so useful to ordinary individuals. The author discovers that law gradually replaced religion and communalism as the source of social stability, and he gives a new interpretation to the witchcraft prosecutions of 1692.

Contents:

English law and Puritan society : the legal and social foundations of order, 1629/1640 Real property litigation : the social and economic backgrounds of legal change Outsiders and subgroups : the coordinative functions of the court From communalism to litigation : the elevation of law and legal forms The court and the community : law in a post revolutionary Puritan society Challenges to the law : the conflict of legal and extra legal methods of social control Law, magic, and disorder : the crisis of the Interregnum, 1684-1692 Epilogue: A contentious and well-ordered people

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliography: p. 193-204 and index.

ISBN:

9798890871657

9780807863435

0807863432

OCLC:

54357977