Was Roman Catholic Canon Law Studied in Eighteenth-Century England?

Abstract

The establishment of the Anglican Church by Henry VIII and its Protestantisation achieved by his children Edward VI and Elizabeth I did not cause the absolute rejection of Catholic customs and traditions in England. Unlike other Protestant communities, the Anglican Church maintained a developed legal order, which was a continuation of a heritage of medieval canon law. The final victory of Anglicanism over Catholic sentiments was achieved in the eighteenth century. The article asks whether that same mechanism worked in the sphere of the teaching of canon law in England in the eighteenth century. It is worth remembering that canon law could not be taught openly, and for this reason, it was often disguised in the form of history lectures and the reception of Roman law. The article contains the conclusions drawn from the analysis of popular eighteenth-century textbooks of Roman law and Anglican ecclesiastical law. References to Roman canon law were sought in them, and modes of expressing statements regarding the Catholic Church and its law were evaluated.