The politics of law in late medieval and Renaissance Italy : essays in honour of Lauro Martines

The Politics of Law in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy features original contributions by international scholars on the fortieth anniversary of the publication of Lauro Martines' Lawyers and Statecraft in Renaissance Florence , which is recognized as a groundbreaking study challenging traditional approaches to both Florentine and legal history. Essays by leading historians examine the professional, social, and political functions of Italian jurists from the thirteenth to the late fifteenth centuries. The volume also examines the use of emergency powers, the critical role played by jurists in mediating the rule of law, and the adjudication of political crimes. The Politics of Law in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy provides both an assessment of Martines' pioneering archival scholarship as well as fresh insights into the interplay of law and politics in late medieval and Renaissance Italy. Contents 5 Abbreviations 7 Foreword and Acknowledgments 9 The Composition of Lawyers and Statecraft 11 A Critical Appreciation of Lauro Martines’s Lawyers and Statecraft in Renaissance Florence 17 Consilium sapientum: Lawmen and the Italian Popular Communes 50 From Rule of Law to Emergency Rule in Renaissance Florence 65 Paolo di Castro as Consultant: Applying and Interpreting Florence’s Statutes 87 An ‚Oracle of the Law’: Tommaso Salvetti and His Adnotationes ad statuta florentina 116 Lawyers and Housecraft in Renaissance Florence: The Politics of Private Consilia 134 Baldus de Ubaldis on Conspiracy and Laesa Maiestas in Late Trecento Florence 151 Laesa maiestas in Renaissance Lucca 171 Afterword 194 Contributors 201 Bibliography 205 Index 233 Essays by leading historians examine the professional, social, and political functions of Italian jurists from the thirteenth to the late fifteenth centuries. The volume also examines the use of emergency powers, the critical role played by jurists in mediating the rule of law, and the adjudication of political crimes. The Politics of Law in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy provides both an assessment of Martines' pioneering archival scholarship as well as fresh insights into the interplay of law and politics in late medieval and Renaissance Italy."--Pub. desc