Thomas Craig’s Aetiology of Law and Society: Literary Dependence and Independence in theJus Feudale

Dodd, Leslie

Abstract

While Craig's relationship to, and emergence from, the French legal humanist tradition has always been widely recognized, this paper constitutes a deeper analysis of the specific threads connecting Craig to the humanist literature of the sixteenth century. It examines the first chapter to the Jus feudale and, by studying Craig's aetiology of law and society, assesses the literary and cultural influences on his historiographical product. It demonstrates that Craig's understanding of the earliest human society and of law's evolution was highly dependent on continental humanist literature and, above all, on the writings of Jean Bodin. Yet it also shows that Craig was capable of independent thought and rigorous critical analysis of sources. The article examines Craig's relationship to the writings of his fellow Scot and humanist, George Buchanan, whose De jure regni apud Scotos constitutes a vital intertextual frame for many aspects of Craig's thought, particularly as it relates to sovereignty, monarchy and the limits of royal power. Moreover, it will be seen that the first chapter, though seemingly an antiquarian digression, actually reflects Craig's thoughts on many significant political issues that were current in Scotland at the time he was writing.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 8, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jun 20, 2016
• Publication Date: May 3, 2016
• Deposit Date: Feb 6, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 19, 2019
• Journal: The Journal of Legal History
• Print ISSN: 0144-0365
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-0564
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 121-179
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01440365.2016.1191587
• Keywords: Feudal law; legal history; legal humanism; Scots law
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1560149
• Contract Date: Feb 19, 2019