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  1. Home
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  3. Maintenance in Medieval England
  • Cited by 6
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2017
Print publication year:
2017
Online ISBN:
9781107358324
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107358324
Subjects:
Constitutional and Administrative Law, Legal History, British History 1066-1450, Law, History
Series:
Cambridge Studies in English Legal History
Information

Book description

This is the first book covering those who abused and misused the legal system in medieval England and the initial attempts of the Anglo-American legal system to deal with these forms of legal corruption. Maintenance, in the sense of intermeddling in another person's litigation, was a source of repeated complaint in medieval England. This book reveals for the first time what actually transpired in the resultant litigation. Extensive study of the primary sources shows that the statutes prohibiting maintenance did not achieve their objectives because legal proceedings were rarely brought against those targeted by the statutes: the great and the powerful. Illegal maintenance was less extensive than frequently asserted because medieval judges recognized a number of valid justifications for intermeddling in litigation. Further, the book casts doubt on the effectiveness of the statutory regulation of livery. This is a treasure trove for legal historians, literature scholars, lawyers, and academic libraries.

Reviews

'… the sheer volume of research that underpins this book, and the many useful tables and appendices that accompany it, will undoubtedly ensure it becomes staple reading, and an excellent research tool, for anyone interested in legal abuses in later medieval England.'

Matthew Hefferan Source: Nottingham Medieval Studies

‘This volume is particularly to be commended for its balance between historical and legal modes of study … He has written a book that is valuable in shedding a new and distinct light on the later medieval legal landscape, in suggesting new directions for study into lordship and affinities, and in bridging the disciplines of history and law.'

Hannah Boston Source: The English Historical Review

‘… an important and long overdue contribution to that field.’

Anthony Musson Source: Journal of British Studies

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