Synopses & Reviews
This study traces the transition of treason from a personal crime against the monarch to a modern crime against the impersonal state. It consists of four highly detailed case-studies of major state treason trials in England beginning with that of Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford, in the spring of 1641 and ending with that of Charles Stuart, King of England, in January 1649. The book examines how these trials constituted practical contexts in which ideas of statehood and public authority legitimated courses of political action that might ordinarily be considered unlawful - or at least not within the compass of the foundational statute of Edward III. The ensuing narrative reveals how the events of the 1640s in England challenged existing conceptions of treason as a personal crime against the king, his family and his servants, and pushed the ascendant parliamentarian faction towards embracing an impersonal conception of the state.
Review
"D. Alan Orr offers a more detailed and thoughtful discussion of the concept of allegiance and its opposite, treason, than has often been the case...commendable attention to detail and close textual reading...impressive..." Sarah Barber, Lancaster University, Historian"Treason and the State is a welcome injection of life into scholarly debates that had long ago grown sterile." History"The book is focused historical scholarship at its very best." Canadian Journal of Law and Society"D.Alan Orr presents a lucid and interesting account of the ideological and political contexts that shaped the interpretation and application of treason law during the English Civil War....Orr has successfully revised an intelligent and well-written dissertation into a book that should appeal to all historians interested in the challenge of defining a British state." American Historical Review"A fascinating and convincing account." Renaissance Quarterly"...[an] impressive and learned new study." Canadian Journal of History"Treason and the State is a sharply written and well-argued book. Orr has successfully contextualized the political problems that served as a backdrop to the rethinking of treason in early modern England. Orr has provided historians and legal scholars with a wonderful look into how ideology drives political action and innovation." Law and History Review
Synopsis
This study traces the transition of treason from a personal crime against the monarch to a modern crime against the impersonal state, consisting of studies of four major state treason trials in England including that of the Earl of Strafford in 1641 and of King Charles I in 1649.
Synopsis
This study traces the transition of treason from a personal crime against a monarch to a more modern crime against the impersonal state. Prior to the Civil Wars of the 1640s, English jurists construed the law of treason largely as a personal crime against the monarch. The book reveals how the events of the 1640s challenged pre-existing interpretations and led to a revised understanding of treason as a crime committed against "the state" as an impersonal entity.
Synopsis
A study of the fundamental change in the meaning of treason in the 1640s.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Concepts: 1. The statutory basis of English treason law; 2. Sovereignty and state; Part II. Practice: 3. Thomas Wentworth, First Earl of Strafford; 4. William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury; 5. Connor Lord Maguire, Second Baron of Enniskillen; 6. Charles Stuart, King of England; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.