1. Scully, R ‘The unmaking of a saint: Thomas Becket and the English Reformation’ (2000)Google Scholar 86 Cath Hist Rev 579 at 582. Most scholars agree that the knights initially intended no more than arrest, the murder resulting, in part, from Becket's refusal to go quietly: Vincent, N ‘The murderers of Thomas Becket’ in Fyde, N and Reitz, D (eds) Bischofsmord im Mittelalter (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003) p 211.Google Scholar

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3. To store them as holy relics: Hayes, D ‘Body as champion of Church authority and sacred place: the murder of Thomas Becket’ in Meyerson, M, Thiery, D and Falk, O (eds) A Great Effusion of Blood: Interpreting Medieval Violence (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004) p 198.Google Scholar

4. N ‘The reconciliation sentence and service in St. Paul's Cathedral’, Consistory Court of London, February 7, 1891. Reported in Chancellor Tristram The Principal Judgments Delivered in the Consistory Courts of London, Hereford Ripon and Wakefield, and in the Commissary of Canterbury 1872 to 1890 (London: Butterworths, 1893) p 164.

5. R. (on the application of Redland Minerals Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs [2010] EWHC 913 (Admin).

6. See eg Sandberg, R Law and Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; A Musson and C Stebbings Making Legal History: Approaches and Methodologies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012); and A Gillespie ‘Religious justifications for environmental protection’ in A Gillespie (ed) International Environmental Law, Policy, and Ethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).

7. There is also no single event in the history of the Middle Ages with the details so well known as Becket's murder: Vincent, above n 1, p 211.

8. Including excommunication for some, and public penance for King Henry II.

9. A Hayes, above n 3, p 198. ‘The great church, one of the ancient shrines of Christendom, stood violated and defiled … It was to be almost a year before Canterbury Cathedral was declared cleansed from the sacrilege’: W Urry Thomas Becket: His Last Days (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1999) p 155.

10. Duggan, above n 2, p 215.

11. Murray notes that suicide ‘polluted’ speech, thought, the body and place, which meant that a sacred space, such as a chapel, might need to be re-consecrated (A Murray Suicide in the Middle Ages, vol 2, The Curse on Self-Murder (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998) p 449); the question arising in the case of an attempted suicide in 1297, for example (ibid, p 403).

12. As the focus of this paper is the historical regulation of Church Pollution, references will use the past tense. This is not to suggest that it has no contemporary use or relevance. An example of a recent (related) event, in the Anglican Church, is the re-dedication of a churchyard in Didcot in March 2014, following the discovery of a murder victim there.

13. Helmholz, R The Oxford History of the Laws of England, vol I, The Canon Law and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from 597 to the 1640s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) p 494 Google Scholar in broad terms (including theft of church property).

14. Ibid, p 495.

15. And continues to be, of course.

16. The term ‘spiritual’ is generally used in this paper in the context of the intangible aspects of religious belief, specifically those relating to the Church in medieval England. That is in no way to seek to equate spirituality with organised religion.

17. Helmholz, above n 13, p 497.

18. Blood is, of course, associated with ‘impurity’ in many religions.

19. Thiery, D Polluting the Sacred: Violence, Faith, and the ‘Civilizing’ of Parishioners in Late Medieval England (Leiden: Brill, 2009) p 48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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21. Perhaps a result of the more ‘multifunctional’ use of church property in the Middle Ages.

22. Helmholz, R ‘Crime, compurgation and the courts of the medieval Church’ (1983)Google Scholar 1 Law & Hist Rev 1 at 7.

23. Involving either violence, or burial of excommunicates: Clarke, P The Interdict in the Thirteenth Century: A Question of Collective Guilt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) p 222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24. ‘The old chapels at St John's’ in Harrison Records of the Tynwald & St John’s Chapel in the Isle of Man, Manx Soc, vol XIX; available at http://isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/manxsoc/msvol19/pt02.htm (accessed 27 March 2015).

25. A suicide case at Calvary Church, Manhattan in 1897, reported in the New York Times 21 June 1897; see http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10612FF3F5811738DDDA80A94DE405B8785F0D3 (accessed 27 March 2015).

26. The Canterbury & York Society Series (editions of episcopal and archiepiscopal registers). I am grateful for the assistance of Jack Wells and Anthony Lynch in undertaking this survey.

27. As well as cases from the fourteenth century.

28. At Carlisle Cathedral, Thompson, WN (ed) Register of John de Halton, Bishop of Carlisle, 1292–1324 (London: The Canterbury & York Society Series, vol 12, 1913) p 76.Google Scholar

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31. At Broadwood Kelly Church in 1425, ibid, p 111, for example.

32. At Chulmelegh Parish Church in 1426, ibid, p 161, for example.

33. At Stamford Courtenay Churchyard in 1421, ibid, p 29, for example.

34. Harrison, above n 24.

35. Tristram, above n 4, p 170. Though several instances of suicide in churches were noted, the 'St Paul's case' was considered to have been the first recorded instance since the Reformation of such an act ‘during Divine Service and in the face of the congregation’.

36. S Lewis ‘Dubbieside – Dun’, in A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (London, 1846) pp 297–310; available at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/scotland/pp297-310 (accessed 27 March 2015).

37. Case 1400/01 Pollution of Church. LXIV ds. Joh. Del Grene, V. of Wystowe, in J Purvis A Mediaeval Act Book: With Some Account of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction at York (York: Herald Printing Works, 1943) p 51.

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42. Decretal of Boniface VIII added to the Liber Sextus (Sext.3.21.1): see Helmholz, above n 13, p 150.

43. Thiery, above n 19, p 58.

44. Tristram, above n 3, p 165. The disruption of order no doubt being a significant factor.

45. Hayes, above n 3, p 190. The offence was further aggravated as it included the removal of the crown of Becket's head (dedicated to God), during the Christmas season: Duggan, above n 2, p 216.

46. The Canon in Gratian's Decretum required re-consecration (see above), but by the late twelfth century, Alexander III's decretal ‘Significasti’ (1172–1173) ordered reconciliation: Clarke, above n 22, p 246. Durandus’ thirteenth-century Rationale states that intentional shedding of blood warrants only reconciliation: Neale and Webb, above n 40, pp 107–108. An eighteenth-century source suggests that pollution may justify a full re-consecration, ‘Pollution by Effusion of Blood’ being the only situation where a church once consecrated could be consecrated again: R Grey and E Gibson A System of English Ecclesiastical Law: Extracted from the Codex juris ecclesiastici anglicani of the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London for Use of Young Students in the Universities, Who Are Designed for Holy Orders (London, 1732) p 67.

47. Helmholz, above n 13, p 497.

48. X.3.40.4: ibid, p 150.

49. Tristram, above n 3, p 166.

50. Thiery, above n 19, p 51.

51. D Thiery ‘Welcome to the parish, remove your cap and stop assaulting your neighbour’ in D Biggs, S Michalove and A Reeves (eds) Reputation & Representation in Fifteenth Century Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2004) p 241.

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55. Ibid, p 48.

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62. See Helmholz, above n 22, p 1.

63. See CP.G.104 Cause Papers, Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York.

64. Thomas Shaw in CP.G.104 Cause Papers, Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York.

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67. Case 1400/01 Pollution of Church. LXIV ds. Joh. Del Grene, V. of Wystowe: in Purvis, above n 39, p 51.

68. Johnson, above n 56, p 795 (emphasis added).

69. Brundage, above n 58, p 152.

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72. Thiery, above n 19, p 36.

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76. Creating a special immunity from violence, and separating from the secular world: R Helmholz The Spirit of Classical Canon Law (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2010) p 385.

77. Helmholz, above n 13, p 619.

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84. Helmholz, above n 60, ch 6.

85. Ibid, p 113.

86. Helmholz, above n 22, p 2. The worst crimes could merit ‘relaxation’ to the secular arm; whereby the civil authorities could inflict various forms of physical punishment: Brundage, above n 58, p 153.

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88. Murray, above n 11, p 428.

89. Ibid, p 426.

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92. Ibid, p 62.

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95. Douglas, above n 90.

96. Hanson, above n 94, p 216.

97. Murray, above n 11, pp 426–427. Murray suggests that, in the context of suicide at least, intention (and hence the morality of acts) was less important in medieval perceptions (p 450), the preoccupation being with the material aftermath.

98. Ibid, p 450.

99. SOr ‘pollution’ through forbidden acts or events clearly lacking moral culpability, such as menstruating women entering sacred spaces.

100. That remained virtually unchanged until 1965: Thiery, above n 19, p 42.

101. Elliott, above n 53, p 21.

102. Clarke, above n 23, p 246.

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105. Ibid, p 131.

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109. Ibid, p 9.

110. A Flournoy ‘In search of an environmental ethic’ [2003] 28 Colum J Envtl L 63 at 114.

111. Ibid, p 70.

112. Viscount Dilhorne in Alphacell v Woodward (HL) [1972] AC 824.

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116. See eg Defra Guidance on Ecosystem Services; available at https://www.gov.uk/ecosystems-services (accessed 27 March 2015).

117. See eg Youngs, D The Life Cycle in Western Europe, c.1300–c.1500 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006).Google Scholar

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120. See House of Commons Environment Committee: First Report on Contaminated Land, Session 1989–90, HC Paper 170–I.

121. Generally referred to as ‘Pt 2A’ more recently.

122. See eg Etherington, L ‘“Mandatory Guidance” for dealing with contaminated land: paradox or pragmatism?’ [2002] 23 Stat L Rev 203.Google Scholar

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124. Under s 78A(4), ‘“Harm” means harm to the health of living organisms or other interference with the ecological systems of which they form part and, in the case of man, includes harm to his property.’

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127. See s 78A(7) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and s 6 of the Statutory Guidance.

128. See reg 7 of the Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/1380).

129. Paragraph 6.7(c) of the Statutory Guidance.

130. The assumption being that other regulatory controls will play this role.

131. Section 78 F(2).

132. Section 78 F(4) & (5).

133. See CA Cross (ed) Encyclopedia of Environmental Health: Law and Practice (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1968) at D602/38 and 39.

134. See para 8.5 of the Statutory Guidance.

135. See de Sadeleer, above n 118.

136. Section 78E.

137. Section 79 N.

138. Section 78P.

139. Section 78H.

140. Section 78E(4).

141. Section 78 M.

142. Above n 82.

143. Section 78 M(5).

144. Section 78R.

145. See above n 86.

146. This includes providing incentives through the Town and Country Planning system, where appropriate.

147. Section 78 L and the Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/1380).

148. Parry, JH (ed) Registrum Johannes de Trillek, episcopi Herefordensis, 1344–1361 (London: The Canterbury & York Society Series, vol 8, 1912) p 124.Google Scholar

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150. Bell, S, McGillivray, D and Pedersen, O Environmental Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 8th edn, 2013) p 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar In the medieval world, physical and spiritual/religious concerns would not have been distinguished.

151. Coyle and Morrow, above n 87, p 203.

152. Alder and Wilkinson, above n 107, p 8.

153. See eg Pointing and Malcolm ‘Sanitary Paradigm’, above n 149; and B Pontin ‘Environmental law-making public opinion in Victorian Britain: the cross-currents of Bentham's and Coleridge's ideas’ (2014) 34 Oxford J Legal Stud 759. Even the ‘longer view’ taken by Coyle and Morrow, above n 87, deliberates ‘on the evolution of thinking’ over ‘the last 400 years or so’ (preface).

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155. See E Fisher et al ‘Maturity and methodology: starting a debate about environmental law scholarship’ (2009) 21 J Envtl L 213.

156. See ‘The moral foundations of Church Pollution’ section, above.

157. Murray, above n 11, p 427.

158. See eg J Baker ‘Why the history of English law has not been finished’ [2000] Camb L J 62.

159. TT Arvind ‘Historical approaches’ in S Halliday et al An Introduction to the Study of Law (Edinburgh: W Green/Thomson Reuters, 2012). See also S Wilson The Origins of Modern Financial Crime (London: Routledge, 2013), for example.

160. Milsom, S Historical Foundations of the Common Law (London: Butterworths, 1969) p 13.Google Scholar

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162. Brundage, above n 58, p ix.

163. Helmholz, above n 13, p 495.

164. Thiery, above n 19, p 39.

165. Brundage, above n 58, p vii.

166. In a unitary Christian society, this amounted, at least in theory, to near-complete ostracism: Logan, above n 74, p 13.

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171. Hill, above n 73, p 1.

172. Thiery, above n 19.

173. It was not uncommon for large sums to be left in wills to pay for masses to this effect: Youngs, above n 117, p 206.

174. There may, of course, be a range of other factors and motivations for regulating the church as a ‘special’ space in this way, such as reinforcing the role of the church in society.

175. Thiery, above n 19, p 108.

176. Helmholz, above n 13, p 495.

177. Thiery, above n 19, p 129.

178. Ibid, p 130, for example.

179. H Thomas ‘Shame, masculinity and the death of Thomas Becket’ (2012) 87 Speculum 1050 at 1055.

180. Thiery, above n 19, p 56.

181. The Consistory Court having very close contact with the laity with jurisdiction over areas such as wills and probate, testamentary matters and defamation: A Willis Winchester Consistory Court Depositions 1561–1602 (Hambledon: AJ Willis, 1960) p 1; and Marchant, above n 167, p 64.

182. Holdsworth, above n 170, p 588.

183. Canon law giving way to the king's ecclesiastical law of the Church of England: Holdsworth, above n 170, p 598.

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186. Ibid, p 227.

187. Hill, above n 73, p 11.

188. Coyle and Morrow, above n 87, p 12.

189. Outhwaite, above n 70, p 84; discipline of the laity being legally terminated through a series of Acts.

190. See Bell et al, above n 150, pp 44–56.

191. O Pedersen ‘Modest pragmatic lessons for a diverse and incoherent environmental law’ [2013] 33 Oxford J Legal Stud 33 103 at 106.

192. Ibid, at 110.

193. Ibid, at 125.

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197. See eg Tromans, S and Turrall-Clarke, R Contaminated Land: The New Regime (London: Sweet and Maxwell, 2nd edn, 2007) p 7.Google Scholar

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