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Interpreting Parliamentary legislation as a historical source : the 1649 Act for regulating printing / author, Edward Vallance (University of Roehampton, UK).
- Format:
- Website/Database
- Author/Creator:
- Vallance, Edward, 1975- author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Research.
- Methodology.
- Genre:
- Case studies.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource
- Place of Publication:
- Marlborough, Wiltshire : Adam Matthew Digital, 2021.
- Summary:
- This case study will provide you with a framework for analysing and understanding Parliamentary legislation as a historical source. Collections of statutes are valuable resources for historians and students of history. They can provide us with evidence of constitutional change and how governments attempted to regulate various spheres of activity, from the economic to the religious. On its own, however, a piece of legislation will not reveal the processes which led to its creation and, therefore, the motivations and intentions of those who fashioned the law. In order to understand this, we need to explore other sources, including other pieces of legislation and Parliamentary journals, diaries, and news reports. Through examining a Parliamentary act for the regulation of print in 1649, you will not only gain an appreciation of the specific context which generated this piece of legislation but also a wider awareness of the law-making process. You will see that legislation could be a response to various private interests and pressures and was not solely the product of governmental initiative. While this means that the interpretation of legislation is a complex process, dependent on the review of multiple sources, it also means that Parliamentary statutes are very rich sources for understanding the past. In particular, you will be shown how legislation can provide us with a critical insight into the nature of political authority at any moment of time.
- Notes:
- Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on August 15, 2022).
- Publisher Number:
- 10.47594/RMPS_0097
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license.
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