Law and Language in the Middle Ages

Jenny Benham is a Lecturer in Medieval History at Cardiff University. Her publications include Peacemaking in the Middle Ages: Principles and Practice (Manchester, 2011) and numerous articles on various aspects of law and diplomatic practice in the period 800-1250. Matthew McHaffie completed his Ph.D. on ‘Power, Lordship, and Landholding in Anjou, c.1000–c.1150’ in 2014, and is currently a researcher at King’s College London. He has published on law and lordship in France in the central Middle Ages. Helle Vogt is a Professor in Legal History at the University of Copenhagen. Her publications include The Function of Kinship in Medieval Nordic Legislation (Leiden, 2010) and numerous articles on aspects of Nordic legal history.

Contents

Notes on Contributors

List of Illustrations

Introduction

 Jenny Benham, Matthew McHaffie, and Helle Vogt



part 1 Translation and Interpretation of Law

1 Why Laws Were Translated in Medieval England: Access, Authority, and Authenticity

 Bruce O’Brien



2 Translating Justinian: Transmitting and Transforming Roman Law in the Middle Ages

 Ada Maria Kuskowski



3 Leges Iutorum: The Medieval Latin Translation of the Law of Jutland

 Michael H. Gelting



4 The Languages and Registers of Law in Medieval Ireland and Wales

 Paul Russell



part 2 The Languages of Legal Practice and Documentary Culture

5 Latin and the Vernacular in Medieval Legal Documents: The Case of Denmark

 Anders Leegaard Knudsen



6 Between the Language of Law and the Language of Justice: The Use of Formulas in Portuguese Dispute Texts (Tenth and Eleventh Centuries)

 André Evangelista Marques



7 The Dangers of Using Latin Texts for the Study of Customary Law: The Example of Flemish Feudal Law during the High Middle Ages

 Dirk Heirbaut



8 Sources of Legal Language: The Development of Warranty Clauses in Western France, ca.1030–ca.1240

 Matthew McHaffie



part 3 Methodology, Interaction, and Language

9 Law and Language in the Leges Barbarorum: A Database Project on the Vernacular Vocabulary in Medieval Manuscripts

 Anette Kremer and Vincenz Schwab



10 ‘And since We are No Lawyers, We Will Void the Lawsuit with Battle Axes’! Voiding a Lawsuit in Old Icelandic Procedural Law

 Werner Schäfke



11 Biblical Analogues for Early Anglo-Saxon Law

 Carole Hough



Index