The Crisis of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth-Century English Political Thought within the Scope of Lex Animata and Lex Facit Regem Principles

Year 2018, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 45 - 59, 25.05.2018

Fatih Durgun

https://doi.org/10.17336/igusbd.394029

Abstract

Medieval
perception of English kingship as an office was definitively formed by two
distinct legal sources for legitimacy in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. On the one hand, the revival of Roman Law tradition in the twelfth
century became the basis of king-centered governance with reference to the
conceptualisation of lex animata
which places the King above Law by depicting the ruler as “Living Law”. On the
other hand, English Common Law tradition developed in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries created a strong reference point for Medieval English
lawyers to put constraints on the arbitrary exercise of power by the kings.
This approach became concrete in the maxim of Lex Facit Regem (Law makes the king) formulated by thirteenth-century
English lawyer Henry Bracton. Within this context, this study gives a general
outline of English political thought in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
around the notions of lex animata and
lex facit regem. It argues that the
tensions caused by two distinct notions about kingly governance remained
unsolved and continued to become the source of theoretical and practical
political crises in Late Medieval England.   

Keywords

Medieval Europe, England, Kingship, Political Thought, Law

Lex Animata ve Lex Facit Regem Prensipleri Çerçevesinde 13. ve 14. Yüzyıllarda İngiliz Siyaset Düşüncesinin Krizi

Abstract

Ortaçağ’daki
İngiliz kraliyet makamı algısı 13. ve 14. yüzyıllarda meşruiyet açısından iki
farklı hukuki kaynak tarafından biçimlendirildi. Bir taraftan, 12. yüzyılda
Avrupa’da Roma Hukuku geleneğinin yeniden canlanışı, kralı Yaşayan Yasa olarak
tanımlayarak yasaların üzerine yerleştiren Lex
Animata kavramsallaştırmasıyla kral merkezli bir yönetim için dayanak oldu.
Diğer taraftan, 12. ve 13. yüzyıllarda geliştirilen İngiliz Örfi Hukuk geleneği
(Common Law) kralların keyfi yönetimine sınırlandırma getirmek için İngiliz
Ortaçağ hukukçularına güçlü bir dayanak noktası oluşturdu. Bu yaklaşım, 13.
yüzyıl İngiliz hukukçusu Henry Bracton’un “Kralı Kral Yapan Yasadır”
formülasyonunda somut halini aldı. Bu temelde, bu çalışma lex animata ve lex facit
regem anlayışları çerçevesinde 13. ve 14. Yüzyıl İngiliz siyaset
düşüncesinin genel bir çerçevesini çizmektedir. Çalışmada, krallık yönetimine
dair iki farklı düşünceden kaynaklanan gerilimin çözümsüz kaldığı ve Geç
Ortaçağ İngiltere’sinde teorik ve pratik açıdan siyasal krize kaynaklık teşkil
ettiği savunulacaktır.

Keywords

İngiltere, Krallık, Siyaset Düşüncesi, Ortaçağ Avrupası, Hukuk

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