Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law - A Study of English Historical Thought in the Seventeenth Century

List of contents

Preface; Preface to the first edition; Part I. The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law: 1. Introductory: the French prelude to modern historiography; 2. The common-law mind: custom and the immemorial; 3. The common-law mind: the absence of a basis of comparison; 4. The discovery of feudalism: French and Scottish historians; 5. The discovery of feudalism: Sir Henry Spelman; 6. Interregnum: the Oceana of James Harrington; 7. Interregnum: the first royalist reaction and the response of Sir Matthew Hale; 8. The Brady controversy; 9. Conclusion: 1688 in the history of historiography; Part II. The Ancient Constitution Revisited: A Retrospect from 1986: 10. Historiography and common law; 11. Civil War and interregnum; 12. Restoration, revolution and oligarchy; Index.

Summary

In clarifying the relation of the historical outlook of seventeenth-century Englishmen to the study of law, and pointing out its political implication, Pocock shows how history's ground was laid for a more philosophical approach in the eighteenth century.

Product details

• Authors: J. G. A. Pocock
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 24.04.1987
• EAN: 9780521316439
• ISBN: 978-0-521-31643-9
• No. of pages: 424
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Social sciences, law, business > Law > Public law, administrative procedural law, constitutional procedural law; England, Wales, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, Historiography, C 1600 To C 1700, Constitution: government & the state, Constitution: government and the state, Constitutional & administrative law, Constitutional and administrative law: general