2/18/2016
The Advent of Printing and the Problem of the Renaissance, Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, Past
and Present, No. 4 (Nov., 1960), 19-89.
o Page 24 discusses how the printing press changed the production of books
o The biggest impact of the new technology was output
o Discusses the use of different scripts
o Attributes the printing press to a shift toward the modern forms of human
consciousness-beginning on page 56
The Advent of Printing and the Problem of the Renaissance: A Comment, Theodore K.
Rabb, Past and Present, No. 52 (Aug., 1971), 135-140.
o Criticizes Eisenstein’s article and gives examples of why he feels she is wrong
The Advent of Printing in Current Historical Literature: Notes and Comments on an
Elusive Transformation, Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The American Historical Review, Vol.
75, No.3 (Feb. 1970), 724-743.
o Quote from Bacon suggesting that the printing press changed “the appearance and
state of the whole world”
o Interesting quotes on page 729
o Bacon felt there were three major inventions unknown to the ancients---moveable
type, the compass, and gun powder
Bouvier’s Law Dictionary and Concise Encycopedia, Volume II
o Definition of oath
Christianity and Law, (an address by Eugene B. Gary), The American Law Review
(1919).
o How the Laws of God have been used in the law
o How the common law developed in England
Coke and the American Revolution, Charles F. Mullett, Economica, No. 38 (Nov. 1932),
457-471.
o 6 weeks studying Coke was enough to allow Patrick Henry’s admittance to the
Virginia bar
o Coke aligned the common law of England with the law of God-this alliance was
important to the colonists
o Calvin’s case used more commonly than any other case by the colonists
o Quote from Bacon had it not been for Coke’s Reports “the law by this time had
been like a ship without a ballast”
o Colonial pamphleteers used Coke to say that the law guaranteed such rights as
“no taxation without representation”
o Adam’s used Coke to say that the colonies should not be tyrannically ruled
o Talks about how other early American figures used Coke’s work
Clio and Chronos an Essay on the Making and Breaking of History-Book Time, Elizabeth
L. Eisenstein, History and Theory, Vol. 6, 36-64.
Page 1 of 6
2/18/2016
o Proposes that the learning revival (Renaissance) may not have happened had the
printing press not been invented
o Discusses scribal culture
Communication and the Human Welfare, John U. Nef, The Journal of Economic History,
Vol. 13, No. 1 (Winter, 1953), 87-89.
o Geoffery Scott-held that the first consequence of the invention of printing was
greatly to increase the effective influence of ideas
The Folk-Lore of the County Court
o Discusses oaths administered during the time this paper was written
o Kissing the book in the English system seems to have originated in the eighteenth
century
History, English Law and the Renaissance, Christopher Brooks; Kevin Sharpe, Past and
Present, No. 72 (Aug., 1976), 133-142.
o State that Coke represents an important change in attitudes to the law and history
o From 1570 increasing amounts of English lawyers received legal training at
Oxford and Cambridge where civil law curricula offered contact with the
continental Europe scholarship
History, English Law and the Renaissance, Donald R. Kelley, Past and Present, No. 65
(Nov. 1974), 24-51.
o Author feels that Fortescue was the predecessor of Coke
o Contrast between France and England during the Renaissance
o Critical analysis of English scholarly developments in the law
o Discusses why the English did not like Civil and Canon law
The History of Literacy and the History of Readers, Carl F. Kaestel, Review of Research
in Education, Vol. 12 (1985), 11-53.
o Discusses the shift from oral to written culture
o Crude literacy rates in Europe-1600-1850 (page 21)
o Discusses the literacy rates among the Catholics and the Protestants
James I and Sir Edward Coke, Roland G. Usher, The English Historical Review, Vol. 18,
No. 72 (Oct. 1903), 664-675.
o Discusses the famous disagreement between Coke and James I and offers quotes
from other people present at the incident
The Marian Establishment and the Printing Press, Jennifer Loach, The English Historical
Review, Vol. 101, No. 398 (Jan., 1986), 135-148.
o Quote from John Foxe “God works for His church not with sword and target...but
with printing, writing, and reading...”
o Fewer books were printed under Mary than Edward (Catholic v. Protestant)
o Average of 125 books per year between 1548 and 1552 and 90 between
1554 and 1558
Page 2 of 6
2/18/2016
o Talks about the types of books printed during each reign
o Marian regime cared about its standing abroad and used the printing press to
influence this—however they did not seem to think that it could do much to
change their reputation in England
The Oath: I, Helen Silving, The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 68, No. 7 (Jun., 1959), 13291390.
o Author describes the history of the oath
o The oath reached the western world through the medium of canon which derived
it from a religious foundation, Germanic law, and Roman law
o English Oath came from Germanic practices
o Sometimes it could be required that you would have to have 300 people
swear that you were telling the truth
o If you were a foreigner you would have your oath taken in the six nearest
churches
The Oath in Court Procedure in Early Baby-Lonia and the Old Testament, Ira M. Price,
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 49 (1929), 22-29.
o Author discusses the origins and meanings of the words used for Oath in other
countries
On Legal Scholarship, Max Radin, The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 46, No. 7 (May, 1937),
1124-1141.
o Comments on what Coke thought about the common law-page 1125
o Discusses how Coke gained his knowledge through books
o See page 1127
o During this time any book was considered an authority
o Author states that Coke utilized both scholastic learning and humanistic learning
o Author feels that Coke probably did read some books in manuscript but probably
relied mainly on printed material since there would have been enough to serve
nearly all of his purposes
The Origins of Historical Jurisprudence: Coke, Selden, Hale, Harold J. Berman, The
Yale Law Journal, Vol. 103, No. 7 (May, 1994), 1651-1738.
o Short biography of Coke can be found on page 1674
o Coke was one of 12 judges who refused to honor a royal request to stay
proceedings-James demanded that each of them get on their knees and swear to
never do it again-all did except for Coke
o James removed Coke from the bench and ordered him to change the
volumes of the Reports in which Coke referred to royal prerogative
o Coke only made minor changes in the six months that he spent working on
this
o James placed Coke in the Tower of London for seventh months for saying that
Parliament inherited their powers as a birthright and not as a privilege from the
King
Page 3 of 6
2/18/2016
o Coke is credited with the idea that the common law courts were superior to all
other English courts and could overrule their decisions
o This also angered James because he felt that he should have the final
authority
o Coke’s theory is known as historical jurisprudence
o Coke’s behavior in the Glansvile’s Case was one of the main reasons James
removed him from the bench
The Reception of Canon Law and Civil Law in Common Law Courts before 1600, David
J. Seipp, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Autumn, 1993), 388-420.
o Common law lawyer’s attitudes towards the canon and civil law-1300-1600s
o Gives the actual number of times common law lawyers referenced the canon and
civil law in the Year Books—begins on page 391
o Starting in the 1400s the lawyers began making more references to canon and
civil law
o Author discusses how the different types of references were made
o Author states that common law lawyers probably learned most of their
information from practitioners instead of books
o Common law was originally maintained orally with students learning by
courtroom attendance, lectures on statues, and moot court experience
A Reconsideration of the Sworn Testimony Requirement: Securing Truth in the
Twentieth Century, Michigan Law Review, Vol. 75, No. 8 (Aug., 1977), 1681-1707.
o History of the oath in English common law
o Discusses strange oaths that were taken-example the Chinese chicken oath
o Under the common law, sworn testimony was symbolic of a binding contract
between a witness and his God
o This religious aspect provided confidence that the person was not lying
Renaissance Lawyers, John M. Zane.
o Discusses why lawyers and judges did not speak in English (the different dialects
of the day would have made it too difficult)
o Discusses the changes that took place in lawyers during the 1500s
o Summary of the changes that took place is on page 565
Rhetoric and Real Property in Tudor England: Thomas Starkey’s “Dialogue between
Pole and Lupset”, A. R. Buck, Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature, Vol. 4, No. 1
(1992), 27-43.
o Discusses The Dialogue and the law of real property in the 1600s
o Discusses the development of uses
Reformation Printers: Unsung Heroes, Richard G. Cole, Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol.
15, No. 3 (Autumn, 1984), 327-339.
o The Reformation would not have occurred had it not been for the printing press
o Discusses how powerful Luther thought printers were
Page 4 of 6
2/18/2016
o Identifies individual printers and where they were from (focuses on those who
were working for Luther)
Religion and Social Obligation in Early Sixteenth-Century London, Susan Brigden, Past
and Present, No. 103
o Discusses oaths in London
o The three middle fingers were placed outright and laid on the Bible in the
sign of the Trinity
o Discusses the laws of perjury
The Rivals, Charles N. Burch, Virginia Law Review, Vol. 14, No. 7 (May, 1928), 507525.
o Discusses the rivalry between Sir Edward Coke and Lord Francis Bacon
o Gives short, individual accounts of each of their lives
o During the reign of James I, the king and his courtiers would attend sermons
and criticize the learning and technique of the preachers
o Men, women and children would take notes during church services over what
was being said
The Significance of Religious Writings in the English Renaissance, Louis B. Wright,
Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 1, No.1 (Jan., 1940), 59-68.
o Religious writings made up 40% of the total output of the printing press
o See page 66-people started taking notes during church and others would criticize
the preacher
Sir Edward Coke’s Third Institutes: A Primer for Treason Defendants, Gerald P. Bodet,
The University of Toronto Law Journal, Vol. 20, No. 4 (1970), 469-477.
o Coke told James that only judges, not lay princes, could interpret the law
o Known as the “oracle of the law” and the “greatest master of English law that had
ever appeared”
o Coke’s Third Institute allowed defendants to take up there own case in the
courtroom
o People would quote Coke during their trials-page 472
o Coke felt that an oath need to be accompanied by a fear of God
Some Conjectures about the Impact of Printing on Western Society and Thought: A
Preliminary Report, Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 40, No.
1 (Mar. 1968), 1-56.
o “Increased output directed at relatively stable markets, in short, created conditions
that favored, first, new combinations of old ideas and, then, the creation of
entirely new systems of thought.”-author’s opinion of the effect of the printing
press on thinking
o Preservation is one of the most important powers of the printing press
o See page 21 for the effect on legal precedents
Page 5 of 6
2/18/2016
The Use of Maxims in Jurisprudence, Jeremiah Smith, Harvard Law Review, Vol. 9, No.
1 (Apr. 25, 1895), 13-26.
o Cites some common maxims used
o Warns about the dangers of using legal maxims
o Quotes about maxims
The Word Made Print: Luther’s 1522 New Testament in an Age of Mechanical
Reproduction, Jane O. Newman, Representations, No. 11 (Summer, 1985), 95-133.
o People distrusted printing in the beginning
o Printing was responsible for the rise of the heretical reformatory movement
Page 6 of 6