Legal Change in Sixteenth Century England: Defamation and Contracts

FAIN: FT-11888-74

R. H. Helmholz
Washington University (St. Louis, MO 63130-4862)

To combine the disciplines of law and history, and to reach some concrete conclusion about how legal change occurred in sixteenth century England. The areas selected for study are contracts made under a sworn oath and libel and slander. Examination and comparison of the records of both the ecclesiastical and the royal courts are utilized to tell when the change occurred, how it was accomplished, and what influence the medieval canon law had on the new remedy available in the King's courts.