Full Description
This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the principal legal landmarks in the evolution of the law of the established Church of England from the Reformation to the present day.
It explores the foundations of ecclesiastical law and considers its crucial role in the development of the Church of England over the centuries.
The law has often been the site of major political and theological controversies, within and outside the church, including the Reformation itself, the English civil war, the Restoration and rise of religious toleration, the impact of the industrial revolution, the ritualist disputes of the 19th century, and the rise of secularisation in the twentieth. The book examines key statutes, canons, case-law, and other instruments in fields such as church governance and ministry, doctrine and liturgy, rites of passage (from baptism to burial) and church property.
Each chapter studies a broadly 50-year period, analysing it in terms of continuity and change, explaining the laws by reference to politics and theology, and evaluating the significance of the legal landmarks for the development of church law and its place in wider English society.
Contents
Foreword, David Ibbetson (University of Cambridge, UK)
Introduction, Norman Doe (Cardiff University, UK) and Stephen Coleman (Cardiff University, UK)
1. The Medieval Antecedents: Pre-Reformation Canon Law, Sarah B White (University of Nottingham, UK)
2. The Reformation and the King's Ecclesiastical Law: 1533-58, Michelle L Johnson (King's College London, UK) and Will Adam (Archdeacon of Canterbury, UK)
3. The Elizabethan Settlement: 1558-1603, Paul Barber (Barrister, UK) and Morag Ellis KC (Archbishop of Canterbury's Faculty Office, UK)
4. The Source and Limit of the King's Ecclesiastical Law: 1603-60, Ian Blaney (Lee Bolton Monier-Williams, UK)
5. The Restoration and Re-Establishment: 1660-1701, Russell Sandberg (Cardiff University, UK)
6. The Church in Danger - Legal Perspectives: 1701-60, Stephen Coleman (Cardiff University, UK)
7. The Ecclesiastical Law and Religious Pluralism: 1760-1837, Norman Doe (Cardiff University, UK)
8. The Victorian Church: Revival, Reform, Ritualism: 1837-1901, Charlotte Smith (National Archives, UK)
9. The 'New World' of Ecclesiastical Law: 1901-47, Russell Dewhurst (Cardiff University, UK)
10. The Post-War Church - Revision and Stability: 1947-94, Neil Patterson (Diocese of Hereford, UK)
11. Change and Decay - The Twilight Years of an Established Church, Mark Hill KC (Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester, Leeds and Europe, UK)
12. Conclusion, Norman Doe and Stephen Coleman (Cardiff University, UK)
