Author Description

"This book aims to provide a lucid and approachable reassessment of the various political, economic and social pressures on the development of English justice in the fourteenth century. It suggests the best ways by which students can understand the different historical debates and schools of thought. Crucially, it stresses that the law did not simply react to external shocks, but was capable of developing from within, responding to the needs of a fast-changing and increasingly litigious society. Further, it questions the notion that royal justice underwent a crisis in the fourteenth century (a key theme for students of late medieval England), and offers new insights into the power structure and political culture of the reigns of Edward II, Edward III and Richard II."--Jacket.