“Constitutional Law” from Christian Faith Publishing author James Tonty is an examination of the development of the United States Constitution starting from the earliest beginnings of the founding documents from the first settlements, through the War of Independence from England to the establishment of the Republic. This dissertation will […]…
Munoz: The Founders and the Natural Right of Religious Free Exercise: A Response
From an online symposium on Vincent Phillip Muñoz‘s article, “Two Concepts of Religious Liberty.” Here is Professor Muñoz’ response to some of the participants: It’s gratifying when scholars you respect and admire take your work seriously. I am therefore deeply grateful for the symposium hosted by the Center for Law…
Voltaire’s Revolution: Writings from his Campaign to Free Laws from Religion (book notice)
This book is the first English translation of a number of Voltaire’s pamphlets which argued for the freeing of law-making from religion. Voltaire criticized what he saw in the Catholic Church as an “oppressive orthodoxy” and its effect on laws. The result, in his opinion, resulted in a lack of freedom of conscience and expression.…
Ancient Courts and Modern: addressing religious views and doctrines
Recent and modern court controversies over areas that impact religious belief and doctrine are interesting compared with similar ancient legal controversies. Of course, the common law has evolved over the centuries, even substantively in the area of religion. It is well-known to legal scholars and practitioners that “public policy” shifts,…
Christianity as the State Religion in 529 CE
On this day in 529, the first draft of of Corpus Juris Civilis was issued by Justinian I, the Emperor of Eastern Roman Empire. This was Latin compilation of all the imperial civil laws dating back to the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Some of the more interesting provisions provided for Christianity as…
An All-Female Supreme Court in 1925
This post does not really have to do with religion, although the case cited caught my eye because it involved women in the legal field, and my studies in religion have dealt with women’s roles in the religious field. (See my book, Prayers of Jewish Women, dealing with the prayers…
Topic Survey: Crime Control and Due Process models
This is a brief survey I did as an orientation to the subject for a project I am working on. The “Crime Control” and “Due Process” models of criminal justice were first articulated by the American scholar Herbert Packer, in an article entitled “Two Models of the Criminal Process.”[1] Packer did not…
Religion, the Slave Trade Act 1807 and the 13th Amendment
Slavery in the British and American countries was an issue that found religious people arguing both sides. Biblical texts were used to argue both for and against; this usually means that the biblical texts are being misused. The modern social and cultural contexts are so radically different. Even in the Roman Empire,…
The Magna Carta
There is a brief article in the Guardian here about legacy of the Magna Carta and the five-year celebrations planned as the 800-year anniversary approaches in 2015. Here is a link to a video interview with UK Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke on the relevance of the Magna Carta today. The Magna Carta connects a number of…
Interracial Marriage in the UK and the US
Marriage is both a religious and a legal act in most cases, whether we are speaking of a civil ceremony, a religious ceremony, a common-law marriage, or so on. While there have been laws at various times and places throughout history preventing interracial marriages, these normally seemed to have derived from social…