ABSTRACT

This study examines the introductions to the earliest surviving English law codes: those of Æthelberht (d. 616), Hlothere and Eadric (d. 685 & ?686) and Wihtred (d. 725) of Kent, and Ine (d. 726) and Alfred (d. 899) of Wessex. It argues that these texts address in thoughtful and imaginative ways significant questions of legal and royal authority, legislative legitimation, and the place of newly-written law within its legal tradition. Despite two centuries of apparent legislative silence between the short prefaces of the early kings and the lengthy preface to the domboc of King Alfred, the rhetorical projects of these texts are linked by a number shared concerns – and particularly by their historiographical approach to the development of legal authority. Though the early legal prefaces have rarely been at the centre of jurisprudential or literary critical interest, their development of legal authority via the potency of literary composition represents an important aspect of a broader literary and legal culture in early England.

摘要

本研究考察了现存最早的英国法典的介绍：那些来自肯特的 Æthelberht (d. 616)、Hlothere and Eadric (d. 685 & ?686) 以及 Wihtred (d. 725) 和 Ine (d. 726)和威塞克斯的阿尔弗雷德 (d. 899)。它认为，这些文本以深思熟虑和富有想象力的方式解决了法律和皇家权威、立法合法性以及新制定的法律在其法律传统中的地位等重要问题。尽管早期的国王的短序言和冗长的序言之间明显的立法沉默的两个世纪domboc在阿尔弗雷德国王的著作中，这些文本的修辞计划与许多共同关注的问题有关——尤其是通过它们发展法律权威的史学方法。尽管早期的法律序言很少成为法理学或文学批评兴趣的中心，但它们通过文学作品的力量发展法律权威代表了早期英格兰更广泛的文学和法律文化的一个重要方面。