The Norman Conquest and the Common Law
The Levellers and the Argument from Continuity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5769987 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R B Seaberg (Binghamton University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1981 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 791-806 |
| Publication date | 1981-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Historical Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0018246x00008207 |
| OpenAlex | W2106767490 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 32 |
| References cited | 5 |
Twenty-five years ago J. G. A. Pocock first argued that the Norman conquest was the rock upon which all arguments for the continuity of the common law finally came to wreck. Believe in the conquest qua conquest, and you could not believe that English law represented a continuous stream of unviolated custom or fail to see it as very much the offspring of Norman parentage. In the English revolution, the Levellers exemplified the logical necessity of Pocock's argu ment. Having seen the conquest for what it was, the group criticized the common law as none other than a Norman yoke and surrendered all appeals to history. By re-examining the Leveller use of history, this essay tests that proposition, turning it not upside down but on its side, and suggests an alternative conclusion both about the Levellers and the doctrine of continuity itself
Argument (complex analysis · CONQUEST · Proposition · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law in Society and Culture · Legal principles and applications
Visions of Politics
Democracy and Legal Change
Commonwealth Principles
The Making of English National Identity
Foundations of Public Law
Absolutism and royalism
Sovereignty and the mixed constitution
Sovereignty and the mixed constitution
Pufendorf
Catholic resistance theory, Ultramontanism, and the royalist response, 1580—1620
The Cambridge History of Political Thought 1450–1700
Christian obedience and authority, 1520–1550
Leveller democracy and the Puritan Revolution
Calvinism and resistance theory, 1550–1580
Italian political thought, 1450–1530
Transalpine humanism
Winston Churchill’s Divi Britannici (1675) and Archipelagic Royalism
Experiences of Defeat
Restoring the Garden of Eden in England’s Green and Pleasant Land
Treason and the State
Labour — Natural, property — Artificial
Hobbes and the Purely Artificial Person of the State
John Lilburne
The place of custom in plebeian political culture
The cult of King Alfred the Great
Peers, equals, and jurors
The Saxon Republic and Ancient Constitution in the Standing Army Controversy, 1697–1699
The Ancient Constitution and the Languages of Political Thought
The Cambridge History of Political Thought 1450–1700
The Making of Englishmen
The hunting of the Leveller
Does the Date Still Matter
| Unique citing works | 32 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,74 |
| Citation span | 1983 - 2025 (43) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 31 |