Originally published on May 13, 2020 (Episode 158)
Introduction
In the middle of the thirteenth century, a number of English justices began to think and also write about what it meant to be a person who worked in the courts of law—who worked there full-time, as if it was their profession. They created a treatise known as Bracton, which was written, edited, and rewritten between the 1220s and the 1260s. It is considered one of the great treatises—if not the great treatise—of early English common law, still cited from time to time in cases with rules or arguments that go back to the beginning of common law.
Thomas McSweeney’s new book Priests of the Law: Roman Law and the Making of the Common Law's First Professionals tells the story of these men, judges like Martin of Pattishall, William of Raleigh, and Henry of Bratton. These are not names familiar to even devotees of medieval English history. But they were pioneers in inventing what it meant to be a lawyer when there was no model for them to imitate. McSweeney argues that they turned to a surprising source of ideas (surprising at least for some students of common law), the prestige of the Roman-law tradition that was spreading across Europe like a forest fire during the thirteenth century.
“In Bracton and other texts they produced,” McSweeney writes, “the justices of the royal courts worked hard to ensure that the nascent common-law tradition grew from Roman law. Through their writing, this small group of people, working in the courts of an island realm, imagined themselves to be part of a broader European legal culture. They made the case that they were not merely servants of the king: they were priests of the law.”
About the Guest
Thomas J. McSweeney is Professor of Law at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. He holds both a JD and PhD in History from Cornell University. His research focuses on the history of legal thought and practice in the Middle Ages, the reception of Roman law in England, and the emergence of professional legal culture. He is the author of Priests of the Law: Roman Law and the Making of the Common Law’s First Professionals (Oxford University Press, 2020).
For Further Investigation
Thomas J. McSweeney, Priests of the Law: Roman Law and the Making of the Common Law’s First Professionals (Oxford University Press, 2020)
Faculty page for Thomas J. McSweeney at the William & Mary Law School
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