Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
reviews the session, the jurist that emerges from Fordâs analysis is a disconcertingly unfamiliar ï¬gure. Reluctant to subscribe to entrenched orthodoxies that he elevated reason over authority in his jurisprudence, Ford instead insists that it was âStair, more than any other jurist writing in Scotland during the seventeenth century, who had tried to promote the idea that all laws must be derived from the exercise of sovereignty by a lawgiverâ (p. 572). Fordâs further claim that, â[b]y the end of his life, Stair was anxious to deny that he had written as a learned authorâ (p. 406), reinforces Stairâs own sense that it was institutions, such as the session, parliament and monarchy, that exercised a greater inï¬uence over the development of early modern Scots law than the writer of the Institutions. There is a risk, however, that this scrupulously researched book will receive less attention than it deserves since Ford demands substantial investment from his readers. Whilst Law and Opinion is rewardingly detailed, it is also dense and digressive. Since Stairâs Institutions based its authoritative claims on over 3,500 references, it is perhaps ï¬tting that Fordâs Law and Opinion has over 2,000 footnotes, as well as single paragraphs
Scottish Historical Review – Edinburgh University Press
Published: Apr 1, 2010
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.