Canon Law and the Common Law

Authors

William W. Bassett

Abstract

The author has made this, as he says, book-sized topic into a compact sketch of the potential influence of the canon law and the common law. In other words, the Article suggests throughout that, indeed, the canon law jurisprudence of the Middle Ages has made more than mere scratchings in the tablets of common law tradition.

The author approaches his task by initially examining the canon law through the texts produced throughout the medieval period when canon law, which articulated the values and ideals of western Europe, was dominant. Then he addresses, more particularly, the contributions of the canonists to the common law. The most basic of those contributions were dynamism and reason.

Recommended Citation

William W. Bassett, Canon Law and the Common Law, 29 Hastings L.J. 1383 (1978).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol29/iss6/6