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The Blasphemies of Thomas Aikenhead: Boundaries of Belief on the Eve of the Enlightenment. By Michael F. Graham. Pp. xii, 180. ISBN: 9780748634262. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008. £50.00.

The Blasphemies of Thomas Aikenhead: Boundaries of Belief on the Eve of the Enlightenment. By... reviews the session, the jurist that emerges from Ford’s analysis is a disconcertingly unfamiliar figure. Reluctant to subscribe to entrenched orthodoxies that he elevated reason over authority in his jurisprudence, Ford instead insists that it was ‘Stair, 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 lawgiver’ (p. 572). Ford’s further claim that, ‘[b]y the end of his life, Stair was anxious to deny that he had written as a learned author’ (p. 406), reinforces Stair’s own sense that it was institutions, such as the session, parliament and monarchy, that exercised a greater influence 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 Stair’s Institutions based its authoritative claims on over 3,500 references, it is perhaps fitting that Ford’s Law and Opinion has over 2,000 footnotes, as well as single paragraphs http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Scottish Historical Review Edinburgh University Press

The Blasphemies of Thomas Aikenhead: Boundaries of Belief on the Eve of the Enlightenment. By Michael F. Graham. Pp. xii, 180. ISBN: 9780748634262. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008. £50.00.

Scottish Historical Review , Volume 89 (1): 111 – Apr 1, 2010

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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© The Scottish Historical Review Trust, 2010
Subject
Reviews; Historical Studies
ISSN
0036-9241
eISSN
1750-0222
DOI
10.3366/shr.2010.0013
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

reviews the session, the jurist that emerges from Ford’s analysis is a disconcertingly unfamiliar figure. Reluctant to subscribe to entrenched orthodoxies that he elevated reason over authority in his jurisprudence, Ford instead insists that it was ‘Stair, 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 lawgiver’ (p. 572). Ford’s further claim that, ‘[b]y the end of his life, Stair was anxious to deny that he had written as a learned author’ (p. 406), reinforces Stair’s own sense that it was institutions, such as the session, parliament and monarchy, that exercised a greater influence 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 Stair’s Institutions based its authoritative claims on over 3,500 references, it is perhaps fitting that Ford’s Law and Opinion has over 2,000 footnotes, as well as single paragraphs

Journal

Scottish Historical ReviewEdinburgh University Press

Published: Apr 1, 2010

There are no references for this article.