Crises are never the best of times and the era of the Great Western Schism (1378-1417) easily qualifies as one of the worst of times. As a professor of canon law at the University of Padua and later cardinal, and as a major theorist in the conciliarist movement, Franciscus Zabarella (1360-1417) tried to do what a good legal mind does: find and explicate a viable and legal solution to the crises of his time, a solution that would stand up in his own era and for the generations that followed. In this volume Thomas Morrissey looks at what he said, wrote and did, and places him and his thought in the context of the late medieval and early modern era, how he reflected that world and how he influenced it. Particular studies elucidate what he wrote on the authority and on the duty of the people in power, what they could do and should do, as well as what they should not do. They also show how he explored the area of early constitution law and human rights in civil and religious society and that his work leads down the road to our modern constitutional democratic societies. The volume includes two previously unpublished studies, on the situation in Padua c. 1400 and on a sermon from 1407, together with an introduction contextualizing the articles.

Since its earliest days, the Christian Church sought to draw up rules by which its members could live together in religious communities. Whilst those of Augustine (c.400 AD) and Benedict (c.530 AD) provided detailed guidance for monastic life, it took another two centuries for equivalent rules for secular clergy to become accepted on a wide scale. The earliest surviving set of comprehensive rules for canons are those written in the mid-eighth century by St Chrodegang (c.712-766), Bishop of Metz. Writing initially for secular clergy at Metz Cathedral, this work shows how Chrodegang's rule borrowed much from the Benedictine tradition, dealing with many of the same concerns such as the housing, feeding and disciplining of members of the community and the daily routine of the divine offices. At a time when there was no consensus on how clergy should live - whether they should marry or were eligible to own property - Chrodegang's rule provided clear guidance on such issues, and inspired reformers across Europe to consider how clergy lived and interacted with wider society. Although his work was superseded within a generation by the Rule of Aachen, Chrodegang succeeded in setting the agenda for subsequent rules for canons and as such his rule deserves to be given more weight by Church historians than has hitherto been the case. Providing the Latin texts and English translations of the three surviving versions of Chrodegang's rule, (Regula Originalis Chrodegangi, Institutio Canonicorum, Regula Longior Canonicorum) this volume provides an invaluable resource to scholars of medieval Christian communities. Substantial introductions to each text provide historical context and bibliographic details, allowing them to be understood in a much fuller way than has hitherto been possible.

This book explores the taxation and exemption of churches and other religious institutions, both empirically and normatively. This exploration reveals that churches and other religious institutions are treated diversely by the federal and state tax systems. Sectarian institutions pay more tax than many believe. In important respects, the states differ among themselves in their respective approaches to the taxation of sectarian entities. Either taxing or exempting churches and other sectarian entities entangles church and state. The taxes to which churches are more frequently subject - federal Social Security and Medicare taxes, sales taxes, real estate conveyance taxes - fall on the less entangling end of the spectrum. The taxes from which religious institutions are exempt - general income taxes, value-based property taxes, unemployment taxes - are typically taxes with the greatest potential for church-state enforcement entanglement. It is unpersuasive to reflexively denounce the tax exemption of religious actors and institutions as a subsidy. Tax exemption can implement the secular, non-subsidizing goal of minimizing church-state enforcement entanglement and thus be regarded as part of a normative tax base. Taxing the church or exempting the church involves often difficult trade-offs among competing and legitimate values. On balance, our federal system of decentralized legislation reasonably make these legal and tax policy trade-offs, though there is room for improvement in particular settings such as the protection of internal church communications and the expansion of the churches' sales tax liabilities.

The articles in this volume trace the development of the theory that humanity forms a single world community and that there exists a body of law governing the relations among the members of that community. These ideas first appeared in the writings of the medieval canon lawyers and received their fullest development in the writings of early modern Spanish intellectuals. Conflict and contact with 'the infidel' provided a stimulus for the elaboration of these ideas in the later Middle Ages, but major impetus was given by the English subjugation of Ireland, and by the discovery of the Americas. This body of work paved the way for the modern notions of an international legal order and universal norms of behavior usually associated with the publication of Hugo Grotius's work in the seventeenth century.

This book describes in detail the ways in which the life of the Church of England is affected by law. It deals with a great many topics including canonical jurisprudence, ecclesiastical government, the ministry of clergy and laity, faith, doctrine and liturgy, the churches' rites and the management of property and finance. Each of these subjects is studied and analyzed critically and where appropriate comparisons are made with the Roman Catholic Church.
Five general themes emerge: first is the degree to which the church can be said to be regulated; the second concerns the increasingly important use of administrative rules created executively at national and diocesian level to supplement the churches formal law; the third examines the relationship between the formal law and the pastoral values of clarity, certainty and flexibility; the fourth theme is the applicability of secular law; the final theme is the comparison with the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus the book provides for the first time a comprehensive, descriptive and critical analysis of the legal framework of the Church of England and the regulatory instruments which operate within this framework.

In this second volume of studies on 12th-century canon law, Charles Duggan emphasises the European context of the emergence of the ius novum, the new law of the Western church, based on specific cases and informed by the academic learning of the schools where canon law was taught as a scholarly discipline. The themes range from marriage and forgery to regional applications, with studies on decretals to Hungary and Archbishop Roger of York respectively, Italian marriage decretals, the impact of the Becket dispute, litigation involving English secular magnates and the crown culminating with a perceptive analysis of the role of judges delegate in the formation and application of the new principles of law and jurisprudence which the practice of local courts and appeals to the papacy brought into being. Significant light is thrown on English collectors, judges, and secular and ecclesiastical litigants. Wherever possible, calendars are provided, often with more accurate identifications and dating, and based on the fullest manuscript sources.

The papers collected in this volume fall into three main groups. Those in the first group are concerned with the origin and early development of the idea of natural rights. The author argues here that the idea first grew into existence in the writings of the 12th-century canonists. The articles in the second group discuss miscellaneous aspects of medieval law and political thought. They include an overview of modern work on late medieval canon law. The final group of articles is concerned with the history of papal infallibility, with especial reference to the tradition of Franciscan ecclesiology and the contributions of John Peter Olivi and William of Ockham.

The two themes brought together in this volume - the canon law and the liturgy of the early medieval Latin Church - have close links, as these articles reveal. At the basis of this lies that fact that the collections and manuscripts with which Professor Reynolds is concerned provide the source material for both fields of study. In the book particular emphasis is given to the Irish Collection canonum hibernensis and its many derivatives, to works from Carolingian Salzburg and eleventh-century Southern Italy, and to liturgical collections. The whole illustrates the need for liturgiologists to be aware of the riches in medieval legal sources, and for legal historians to take account of the wealth of liturgical material that is a principal ingredient of the law of the Church; and demonstrates how much one field can contribute to understanding the development and to the dating of the other. Les deux themes reunis dans ce volume - le droit canon et la liturgie de l'Eglise Latine du haut moyan-Acge - ont, comme le revele ce groupe d'articles, des liens tres etroits. Ceci reposant sur le fait que les collections et manuscrits, auxquels le professeur Reynolds s'interesse, apportent la substance se trouvant A la source de ces deux terrains d'etudes. Dans le livre, une importance particuliere est donnee au Collectio canonum hibernensis irlandais et A ses multiples derivations, ainsi qu'aux travaux issus de Salzburg A l'epoque carolingienne A ceux provenant d'Italie meridionale au 11e s. et aux collections liturgiques. L'ensemble illustre la nesessite pour les specialistes en liturgie d'Atre conscients de l'abondance de sources legales medievales et pour les historiens du droit de tenir compte de la richesse en matiere liturgique et que forme l'un des ingredients principaux du droit de l'Eglise; il demontre aussi combien un domaine peut contribuer e la comprehension du developpement et A l'assignation de date

The question these articles seek to respond to, in this fifth collection by Jean Gaudemet to be published by Variorum, is how the intellectual elite of the medieval Church perceived the institutions among which they lived - how they portrayed them, and how they sought to influence them. Whether dealing with the papacy and its place in the Church and the world, with the role of the people in government, or with the position of the individual in society, he would argue that this is the essential question. In their response, this elite drew on the Bible and custom, on Roman law and papal letters, in order that the law could encompass all human experience. To achieve this, these jurists needed to create categories and work out principles, hence the recourse to theology and the necessity for a logical structure, a 'systematization'. Ce volume reunit dix-sept etudes parues dans diverses revues ou recueils de Melanges entre 1988 et 1992. Toutes concernent La doctrine canonique medievale telle qu'elle s'exprime (principalement du VIe au XIIIe siecle) A propos des institutions de l'Eglise et de ses relations avec la societe seculiere. Comment l'elite intellectuelle des hommes de l'Eglise medievale a-t-elle perAu les institutions au milieu desquelles elle vivait? Quelle image a-t-elle voulu en donner? Dans quelle voie esperait-elle les orienter? Qu'il s'agisse de la Papaute, de se place dans l'Eglise et dans le Monde, du rAle du Peuple dans le gouvernement, du sort de l'individu dans le group social, de l'entree dans l'Eglise et de la condition de ceux qui lui restent etrangers, la question reste la mAme: Comment le droit peut-il saisir l'infinie variete de l'histoire des hommes?

The society and legal systems of Southern Arabia, both ancient and modern, form the subject of this second collection of articles by Professor Serjeant. His approach has been to make a detailed study of modern social structures and legal customs and to relate these to what we know of ancient society and law. The traditional tribal society of the region, he argues, has preserved in its customary law and practice a very great deal that derives directly from the pre-Islamic period, whereas the shari'ah, the law of Islam, though stemming from the same sources, has often diverged significantly from it. An understanding of the modern situation, therefore, is of immediate relevance to the interpretation of pre- and early-Islamic society. Among the particular topics covered are the interplay between tribal affinities and religious authority, marriage legislation and the "Frankish chancre" or (syphilis), and maritime customary law. From an ethnographic viewpoint, furthermore, these studies record peoples and lifestyles that have been increasingly overwhelmed by contemporary events. Les societes et les systemes juridiques de l'Arabie du Sud, moderne et ancienne, sont le theme de ce recueil d'articles par le professeur Serjeant. Il aborde le sujet avec une etude des structures sociales modernes, ainsi que du droit coutumier, puis les rattache A ce qui est connu de la societe et du droit anciens. La societe tribale traditionnelle de la region, affirme-t'il, a conserve un grand nombre d'us et coutumes trouvant des origines directes au cours de la periode pre-islamique, alors que le droit de l'Islam, le shari'ah, bien qu'issu des mAmes sources, s'en eloigne de faAon significative. Le fait de comprendre la situation moderne a donc un rapport immediat avec toute interpretation de la societe islamique A ses debuts. Parmi les themes specifiques que couvre l'auteur, se trouvent le droit marital et le "chancre" franc (syphilitique), le droit

This fourth selection of articles by Professor Kuttner complements the volumes previously published by Variorum. Its subject is the history of the Church law of the Middle Ages, and the manner in which it has been studied. One group of articles is particularly concerned with the broader implications of medieval law, with its role in the history of doctrines and ideas: other sections focus on the history of the Glossators in modern research, and on the canonists of the period following the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX " the Glossa Ordinaria and the works of St Raymond of PeA+/-afort and Johannes Andreae form specific areas of interest. As in the previous volumes, there is an extensive section of 'Retractiones", recording the results of further research and assiduously detailing and commenting upon work done in the field since the articles were first published. To facilitate access to all this material, important indexes have also been provided. Cette quatrieme collection d'articles du Professeur Kuttner complete les volumes preablement publies par Variorum. Elle a pour sujet l'histoire du droit l'Eglise au Moyen Age et la maniere dont il a ete etudie. Un des groupes d'articles traite en particulier des implications plus larges medieval et de son rAle dans l'histoire doctrines et des idees. D'autres se concentrent sur l'histoire des Glossateurs au travers de la recherche moderne et sur les canonistes de la periode suivant les decretales du pape Gregoire IX " les Glossa Ordinaria et les travaux de St Raymond de Penafort et de Johannes Andreae constituent des passages d'interet specifiques. De mAme que dans les volumes precedentes, il existe une importante section de 'Retractiones' ou sont enregistres les resultants de recherches supplementaires et ou y sont faits un compte-rendu assidueusement detaille, ainsi que des commentaires sur le travail accompli dans la domaine en question depuis la premiere publication des articles. Afin de faciliter

This volume is concerned, above all, with the legal background and the juristic issues behind the ideology and practice of the medieval Crusades. This is an area that the author was the first to investigate systematically, and there are two particular reasons for his approach: one, the conviction that the historical phenomenon of the Crusades can only be adequately understood within the context of the legal systems that permeated the age; the other, that so much of the documentary evidence " be it charters, decrees even chronicles " was produced by people whose perceptions had been shaped by the law. A number of articles focus on the roles of individual crusaders, or address ideological questions, including the very concept of Holy War. Others deal with practical issues and the nature of the obligations incurred by a crusader, and examine the consequences these had, both for the institutions of medieval Europe and for the crusader's own family relationships. Ce recueil s'attache avant tout au contexte legal et aux questions juridiques qui se trouvent A la base de l'ideologie et de la pratique des Croisades au Moyen Age. L 'auteur a ete le premier A entreprendre des recherches de faAon systematique dans ce domaine; deux raisons precises sont A l'origine de cette demarche premierement, la conviction que seule la connaissance du contexte des systemes legaux dont l'epoque etait impregnee, permet de bien comprendre le phenomene historique des Croisades; deuxiemement, le fait que quantite de documents " temoins " chartes, decrets, ou encore chroniques " sont l'oeuvre de gens dont la perception etait grandement influencee par la loi. Un nombre d'etudes se concentrent sur la rAle individuel de certains croises, ou s'adressent A des questions d'ideologie, y compris le concept mAme de la Guerre Sainte. D'autre traitent de questions d'ordre pratique, ainsi que de la nature des engagements contractes par le croise; ils en examinent le

The foundation for all scholarly study in biblical law is the shared assumption that the Covenant Code, as contained in Exodus 20:23-22:33 is the oldest code of laws in the Hebrew Bible, and that all other laws are later revisions of that code. In A Law Book for the Diaspora, John Van Seters strikes at that foundation. He argues that those laws in the Covenant Code that are similar to Deuteronomy and the Holiness Code are in fact later than both of these, dependent on them as sources, and therefore cannot be taken as the foundation of Hebrew Law. A persuasive presentation of a controversial thesis, A Law Book for the Diaspora will have a dramatic and far-reaching impact on the study of Hebrew Law. No student of the Hebrew Bible can afford to ignore it.

This original book is a comprehensive, richly documented and critical examination of laws applicable to Anglican cathedrals in England, some of the most iconic monuments in the national heritage and centres of spiritual and cultural capital. Law is the missing link in the emerging field of cathedral studies. The book fills this gap. It explores historical antecedents of modern cathedral law, traces aspects of them that still endure, and explains the law with particular reference to the recommendations of the Archbishops' Commission on Cathedrals 1994 which led to the most radical changes in the legal history of these churches since the Reformation, culminating in the Cathedrals Measure 1999 and associated later legislation. The book compares the domestic constitutions and statutes of all the cathedrals of the Church of England today - old foundations, new foundations and parish church cathedrals - as well as policies and guidelines applicable to or adopted by them. Whilst national law acts as a fundamental unifying force, there is considerable diversity as between these in terms of the breadth and depth of their coverage of topics. In the socio-legal tradition, the book also explores through interviews with clergy and others, at half of the cathedrals, how laws are experienced in practice. These reveal that whilst much of the law is perceived as working well, there are equally key areas of concern. To this end, the book proposes areas for further research and debate with a view to possible reform. Taking an architectural feature of cathedrals as the starting point for each chapter, from cathedral governance through mission, ministry, music and education to cathedral property, what emerges is that law and architecture have a symbiotic relationship so that a cathedral is itself a form of juristecture.

Winner of two 1990 Christianity Today Awards: Readers' Choice (1st place; theology doctrine) and Critics' Choice (1st place; theology doctrine). A 1989 ECPA Gold Medallion Award winner How did the books of the Bible come to be recognized as Holy Scripture? Who decided what shape the canon should take? What criteria influenced these decisions? After nearly nineteen centuries the canon of Scripture remains an issue of debate. Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox all have slightly differing collections of documents in their Bibles. Martin Luther, one of the early leaders of the Protestant Reformation, questioned the inclusion of the book of James in the canon. And many Christians today, while confessing the authority of all of Scripture, tend to rely on only a few books and particular themes while ignoring the rest. Scholars have raised many other questions as well. Research into second-century Gnostic texts have led some to argue that politics played a significant role in the formation of the Christian canon. Assessing the influence of ancient communities and a variety of disputes on the final shaping of the canon call for ongoing study. In this significant historical study, F. F. Bruce brings the wisdom of a lifetime of reflection and biblical interpretation to bear on questions and confusion surrounding the Christian canon of Scripture. Adept in both Old and New Testament studies, he brings a rare comprehensive perspective to the task. Though some issues have shifted since the initial publication of this classic book, it remains a significant landmark and touchstone for further studies.

Ausgangspunkt dieses Buches ist die seit Jahrzehnten im oeffentlichen Sachenrecht umstrittene Frage, ob eine Widmung dingliche Rechtsfolgen ausloest. Trotz der gegenlaufigen Entscheidung im Hamburger Stadtsiegelfall sind in der Rechtsprechung im Falle widmungswidriger Nutzung einer oeffentlichen Sache Stoerungsbeseitigungsanspruche fur den oeffentlichen Sachherrn anerkannt worden, die gesetzlich nicht geregelt sind. Hier setzt der Autor an. Er untersucht, ob und welche Sicherungsmoeglichkeiten fur die diversen oeffentlichen Sachen nach oeffentlichem (Sachen-)Recht bestehen. Das Strassen- und Wasserrecht stellt gesetzliche Grundlagen fur Sicherungsinstrumente bereit. Im UEbrigen hat eine Widmung keine sachenrechtliche Wirkung. Insbesondere scheidet Gewohnheitsrecht als Grundlage von Sicherungsinstrumenten aus.

Religion, Law, and the Present Water Crisis documents current and impending global water shortages and opposes policies of commodification and privatization of water ownership by multinational water corporations. On the basis of the religions of the world, Richard A. Hughes appeals to pure, running water as a symbol of the sacred. Furthermore, he argues that all bodies of freshwater are commons and that they should be protected by the public trust doctrine. In addition, he contends that there is a right to water and that this right is independent, free-standing, and the prerequisite of other human rights, applying to all states and occupied territories. The increasing acidification of the oceans makes it mandatory to protect them under the reserved water right doctrine and to designate them as "national parks" of the seas. More generally, this book presents a synthesis of water studies and encompasses the religions of the world, theologies of baptism, American water law doctrines, public trust doctrine with special attention to Islamic water law, and international water law treaties. Clean water is a necessity of life. Therefore, it is compelling to recognize the urgency of water scarcity and the need to guarantee the purity of and accessibility to water for all people.

The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, also commissioned by the Canon Law Society of America, was published in 1985. But much has changed in the nearly twenty years since the authors of the previous commentary did their work. The Church has changed. The Roman Catholic Church worldwide has come to terms with the 1983 Code of Canon Law, and has had considerable experience living by those new rules. It is that experience which this new commentary tries to capture and assess. Canon law has changed. The 1983 code itself has undergone just one formal amendment, however, many new documents and official interpretations have enlarged and reshaped the canonical scene in the intervening years. The Canon Law Society of America has done a new English translation of the code, published in 1999. This new translation, contained herein, forms the basis for the explanations and reflections that make up this new commentary. The authors have changed. Of the thirty-six contributors to this commentary, about three-quarters are different from the authors of the 1985 commentary.

It is a medieval truism that the poet meddles with words, the lawyer with the world. But are the poet's words and the lawyer's world really so far apart? To what extent does the art of making poems share in the craft of making laws, and vice versa? Framed by such questions, Piers Plowman and the Reinvention of Church Law in the Late Middle Ages examines the mutually productive interaction between literary and legal "makyngs" in England's great Middle English poem by William Langland. Focusing on Piers Plowman's preoccupation with wrongdoing in the B and C versions, Arvind Thomas examines the versions' representations of trials, confessions, restitutions, penalties, and pardons. Thomas explores how the "literary" informs and transforms the "legal" until they finally cannot be separated. Thomas shows how the poem's narrative voice, metaphor, syntax and style not only reflect but also act upon properties of canon law, such as penitential procedures and authoritative maxims. Langland's mobilization of juridical concepts, Thomas insists, not only engenders a poetics informed by canonist thought but also expresses an alternative vision of canon law from that proposed by medieval jurists and today's medievalists.

First full-length study and edition of the acts of the Court of Arches, the most important medieval English ecclesiastical court. The appellate court of the archbishop of Canterbury as metropolitan of the province of Canterbury [covering all of England south of the Humber and all of Wales] was the most important ecclesiastical court in medieval England; it sat in the church of St Mary le Bow in London, from whose Latin name [de arcubus] it took its popular name, the Court of Arches. This volume offers the first full-length study of the Court. The introduction traces its history from its first appearance in the records of the mid- thirteenth century to 1533, when the Statute in Restraint of Appeals altered its constitution, and describes how cases proceeded in the court from initial appeal to final disposition. It is followed by an edition of the essential texts governing the court - its statutes and its customs - as well as editions of treatises about the court's procedure, which were written by practitioners in the Arches. A list of the court's personnel, including proctors and advocates, and a discussion of the court's calendar complete the volume.

Das Steuerrecht sieht fur juristische Personen des oeffentlichen Rechts und die von ihnen unterhaltenen Betriebe zahlreiche Vergunstigungen vor. So unterliegen Betriebe juristischer Personen des oeffentlichen Rechts, die uberwiegend der Ausubung der oeffentlichen Gewalt dienen, als so genannte Hoheitsbetriebe nicht der Koerperschaftsteuer. Diese steuerliche Vergunstigung erstreben auch die Kirchen und Religionsgemeinschaften, denen das Verfassungsrecht den oeffentlich-rechtlichen Status zugewiesen hat. Diese Arbeit zeigt, dass und inwieweit kirchliche Betriebe oeffentliche Gewalt ausuben und damit als Hoheitsbetriebe steuerlich begunstigt werden.

Liturgy is concerned with the worship of God. Yet in spite of that - some might say because of that - it is necessary to have rules. It is sometimes mistakenly thought that these rules are archaic and therefore irrevelant; in fact the rules and their interpretation have changed considerably in recent years, so much so that there is now widespread concern among the clergy and church administrators about the degree to which Liturgical Law is being correctly understood and applied. This book has a straight forward aim which is to describe and analyse a wide range of Ecclesiastical Law topics which are scarcely dealt with in other books on Church Law and Ecclesiastical Law. As such it provides not merely a statement of legal principles but also a discussion in-depth of the relevant law and its developments. The style is precise and easy to read. The authorities and foot-notes are comprehensive. Arguably it presents the most comprehensive coverage of Ecclesiastical Law published in modern times.

In This Volume dedicated to medieval canon law expert Kenneth Pennington, leading scholars from around the world discuss the contribution of medieval church law to the origins of the western legal tradition. The stellar cast assembled by editors Wolfgang P. Muller and Mary E. Sommar includes younger scholars as well as long-established specialists in the field. Muller's introduction provides the first comprehensive survey of investigative trends in the field in more than twenty years. Subdivided into four topical categories, the essays cover the entire range of the history of medieval canon law from the sixth to the sixteenth century. The first section concentrates on the canonical tradition before the advent of academic legal studies in the twelfth century. The second addresses the formation of canonistic theory. The third and fourth sections consider the intellectual exchanges between canon law and other fields of study, as well as the practical application of canons in day-to-day court proceedings. Though the twenty-seven essays included in this volume are quite diverse, taken together they provide an outstanding overview of the latest research and cutting-edge scholarship on the topic. Kenneth Pennington is Kelly-Quinn Professor of Ecclesiastical and Legal History at the Catholic University of America. He is the author of numerous works including Pope and Bishops: The Papal Monarchy in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries and The Prince and the Law, 1200-1600: Sovereignty and Rights in the Western Legal Tradition, and is coeditor of the CUA Press series, History of Medieval Canon Law.

An exploration of the thirteenth-century law code known as Siete Partidas Conceived and promulgated by Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon (r. 1252-1282), and created by a workshop of lawyers, legal scholars, and others, the set of books known as the Siete Partidas is both a work of legal theory and a legislative document designed to offer practical guidelines for the rendering of legal decisions and the management of good governance. Yet for all its practical reach, which extended over centuries and as far as the Spanish New World, it is an unusual text, argues Jesus R. Velasco, one that introduces canon and ecclesiastical law in the vernacular for explicitly secular purposes, that embraces intellectual disciplines and fictional techniques that normally lie outside legal science, and that cultivates rather than shuns perplexity. In Dead Voice, Velasco analyzes the process of the Siete Partidas's codification and the ways in which different cultural, religious, and legal traditions that existed on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages were combined in its innovative construction. In particular, he pays special attention to the concept of "dead voice," the art of writing the law in the vernacular of its clients as well as in the language of legal professionals. He offers an integrated reading of the Siete Partidas, exploring such matters as the production, transmission, and control of the material text; the collaboration between sovereignty and jurisdiction to define the environment where law applies; a rare legislation of friendship; and the use of legislation to characterize the people as "the soul of the kingdom," endowed with the responsibility of judging the stability of the political space. Presenting case studies beyond the Siete Partidas that demonstrate the incorporation of philosophical and fictional elements in the construction of law, Velasco reveals the legal processes that configured novel definitions of a subject and a people.