Conscience and Law: The Lutheran Reformation and the Western Legal Tradition
The Western legal tradition was formed in the great revolutionary upheaval of the late eleventh and early twelfth century, when the papacy established its independence from imperial and royal control and its political and legal supremacy over the clergy of Western Christendom. It was then that there...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
1987
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| In: |
Journal of law and religion
Year: 1987, Volume: 5, Issue: 1, Pages: 177-202 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The Western legal tradition was formed in the great revolutionary upheaval of the late eleventh and early twelfth century, when the papacy established its independence from imperial and royal control and its political and legal supremacy over the clergy of Western Christendom. It was then that there was first developed the modern Western belief in the autonomy of law, its professional character, its integrity both as a system of institutions and as a body of learning, its capacity for organic growth over generations and centuries, its conscious historicity, and its ultimate supremacy over political authorities. It was then, too, that the modern Western concept of subjective rights was first adumbrated—the rights of corporate bodies and persons to property and to liberties against other corporate bodies and persons, and even against superiors.Politically, the Western legal tradition was rooted in the dualism of ecclesiastical and secular authorities and in the pluralism of secular polities—kingdoms and principalities, feudal domains, autonomous cities—within the ecclesiastical unity. Theologically, it was rooted in a concept of salvation, and of law as part of God's plan of salvation. |
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| ISSN: | 2163-3088 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of law and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1051024 |