In the early 17th century, authority came from scripture and classical sources. The Renaissance and Reformation looked to ancient Greeks and Romans, while the Bible was also seen as undisputed truth. The scientific revolution began to challenge assumptions, with figures like Descartes rejecting faith-based beliefs and Bacon advocating the scientific method. Enlightenment thinkers believed humans could use reason to understand nature through scientific laws, paving the way for legal and social reform based on principles of justice, efficiency and human rights.

1. The World of the Early 17th
Century

2.  Two unchallenged sources of authority – scripture
and the classics
 To return to a “Golden Age” looked to the ancients
– evident in the Renaissance and the Reformation
 Focus on the ancient Greeks and Romans by
Renaissance and humanist thinkers
 Unquestionable authority was also the Bible –
where one could find the solution to all human
problems

3.  Limited universe in the 17th
century – earth at the
centre and man at the heart of the universe
 Voyages of discovery broadening people’s
understanding but misconceptions remained.
 Little known about past civilizations or those
outside Europe.
 The great age of witchcraft
 Plagues viewed as the wrath of God
 All was preordained

4.  Science and particularly astronomy questioned
relationship between humankind and nature
 Fossil evidence challenged the age of the earth
according to the Bible
 Europeans discovering more about other
civilizations – the “primitive” vs the “civilized”
 Philosophy – human reason did not need religion
to find truth
 Rene Descartes – things to no longer be accepted
on faith.

5.  Rejection of traditional assumptions and attitudes
 Science to distinguish truth from error
 Belief that all could be known and that “man was
master of his destiny”
 Francis Bacon – experimentation and induction to
find truth; science and technology to transform
society
 Isaac Newton’s laws of gravitation explained all
earthly and heavenly movement – the scientific
method could discern natural laws

6.  John Locke – scientific laws to understand human
society: moral values arise from pleasure or pain.
 Implications: tolerance; material conditions could
be adjusted to change society; education to
promote rationality
 The social sciences?
 Ideas of Locke and Newton spread throughout
Europe.

8.  For Enlightenment thinkers, the discovery of laws
was the highest activity of the mind
 Laws of nature would allow the creation of
legislation which would shape society
 Reforming legal codes would result in the
implementation of justice and increased efficiency
of the state.
 Justice – the concern was efficiency and
obedience to authority
 Yet the law could also be used to limit tyranny

9.  Existing legal order an embarrassment –
inefficient and irrational.
 Lawyers did not advocate change as it may have
meant loss of privilege
 However lawyers increasingly influenced by
Enlightenment thinking
 History of the law is one of gradual change and
legal reform from as early as the 16th
century and
the work of the humanists

10.  Law as an ideal – ceremony, ritual, reverence,
public spectacle
 Yet confusion in legislation – different courts;
Roman law vs. customary law
 Lawyers – closed circle that jealously guarded
their position and privilege
 Law as an attractive career – steady income and
respectability
 Law allowed for those of lesser birth to rise to
prominence in small numbers

11.  Increased numbers of lawyers led to greater
competition
 Greater standards for legal education
 Increasing influence of Enlightenment ideals on
lawyers

12.  Potential conflict between law practitioners and
church and state
 Initially lawyers belonged to conservative culture
but became increasingly radical towards end of
18th
century
 John Wilkes defended the liberties of Englishmen
against the tyranny of government
 Lawyers created Society of the Supporters of the
Bill of Rights – huge influence in the American
colonies

13.  Montesquieu “The Spirit of the Laws” (1748) –
laws should not just be based on reason but on
the circumstances of people which would differ
from place to place.
 Human rights – opposed slavery and harsh
punishment/public torture
 Laws should be simple and accessible
 Govt should be limited by law
 Law and society changing over time – each
influencing the other

14.  Beccaria “On Crimes and Punishments” (1764)
 No place for superstition, ignorance and laziness
in the criminal code
 Justice must be certain and based on reason

15.  Justice in early Europe based on the whim of the
ruler and the competing courts
 18th
century – increasing attempt by rulers to
control legal systems due to Enlightenment
influence and desire to expand royal power.
 Prussia – Frederick William I: codification to make
justice efficient.
 William Blackstone “Commentaries on the Laws of
England” (1765-9) – simple language of law,
reform legal education, influenced by Montesquieu
and Beccaria

16.  Jeremy Bentham – codification of English law
 Pain and pleasure at the heart of human behaviour
 Basis of legislation: people act to avoid pain and
increase pleasure; pain and pleasure can be measured;
thus the punishment can be made to fit the crime.
 Lawyers playing a larger role in political processes
shaping the law
 The law was something one made.
 Its legitimacy was validated by the people.