Custom, Law, and Monarchy explores how law evolved in early modern France, from an amalgam of customs, Roman and canon law, royal edicts, and judicial decisions

How much power does a monarch really have? How much autonomy do they enjoy? Who regulates the size of the royal family, their finances, the rules of succession?

The long-accepted standard view is that the gradual polarization of Court and Parliament during the reigns of James I and Charles I reflected the split between

Custom, Law, and Monarchy explores how law evolved in early modern France, from an amalgam of customs, Roman and canon law, royal edicts, and judicial decisions

This new volume from the author of Scenarios of Power explores the effect of the symbolic and mythical representations of the Russian imperial government on law