Colonial Massachusetts Laws and Liberties and the English Commonwealth

State Formation, the Rule of Law, and the People’s Welfare

Charles Edward Smith (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

378 Seiten

2024
Martinus Nijhoff (Verlag)
978-90-04-70633-0 (ISBN)

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Colonial Massachusetts law books were influenced by long term influences such as the English Commonwealth, the Reformation, and English law reform. This volume explores how Massachusetts government and its laws developed in tandem with forces unleashed by the English Revolution and Civil Wars.

On July 4, 1653, the Nominate or Barebones Parliament convened with a minority of committed radicals (Levellers and religious extremists) and a conservative majority of Cromwell’s allies. During acrimonious debates on law reform, the radicals demanded a condensed law book similar to the one adopted in Colonial Massachusetts.

These mostly overlooked events reveal a radical wing of Puritanism determined to found a self-governing state, fully cognizant of the real possibility that England would interdict such attempts by force of arms. This work investigates the motives for such a hazardous undertaking, and the possible influences these events had on the colony’s posterity.

Charles Edward Smith, Ph.D. (1998), University of Chicago, has recently retired from the US Dept. of Defense, where he served as the Director of Legislative Operations in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs.

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1

The English Commonwealth and the Protestant Reformation

1 Massachusetts Capital Laws of 1642

2 Education and Radical Religiosity

Part 2

Creating a Legal Authority in the “New World”

3 No Taxation without Representation

4 The Negative Voice

5 The Standing Council

Part 3

Publishing Massachusetts Laws and Liberties

6 The Body of Liberties of 1641

7 Divine Magistracy vs. a Rule of Law

8 The Laws and Liberties of 1648

Part 4

Transatlantic Legal Reform and Popular Sovereignty

9 Penal Laws, Debt, and Early Modern Markets

10 Ship Money, Rex v. Hampden, and Matters of State

11 Popular Sovereignty: Salus Populi Suprema Lex

Part 5

Imperial Ambitions

12 An Arbitrary, Absolute, and Unlimited Power

13 Sovereignty of the Law

Conclusion

Works Cited

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	03.09.2024
Reihe/Serie	Legal History Library ; 68
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	768 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
Themenwelt	Recht / Steuern ► Rechtsgeschichte
ISBN-10	90-04-70633-X / 900470633X
ISBN-13	978-90-04-70633-0 / 9789004706330
Zustand	Neuware