Early Modern Jurisprudence and Theology

Abstract

This chapter argues that the subject of theology and jurisprudence in Scotland falls into two distinct and often independent histories, the first concerning the reception of Canon law in Scotland prior to the Reformation in respect of both ecclesiastical and civil law, the second concerning the reception of the ‘law of God’ into ecclesiastical and criminal law during the era of the Reformation. The continued authority of Canon law in Protestant Scotland is considered alongside the development of the Church of Scotland’s disciplinary jurisdiction and the criminalization of sin. Areas in which these two distinct histories intersected in respect of marriage law and the law of incest are considered. The interaction of theology and jurisprudence among the writings of Scotland’s earliest legal writers and earliest institutional writers is also considered, including the influence of Calvinism on criminal law, and of scholastic moral theology on Scots private law.