Thomas McSweeney
@mcsweeney1693.bsky.social
Professor of Law @wmlawschool. Legal historian, medievalist, W&M alum. Writing about English law in the 13th century. Author of Priests of the Law (Oxford 2019), on the Bracton treatise and its authors. All views my own, not W&M's.
There was a case I discussed in my book where the major players were Richard, Roger, and Robert. Spent a lot of time rewriting to try to minimize reader confusion.
October 16, 2025 at 1:23 PM
There was a case I discussed in my book where the major players were Richard, Roger, and Robert. Spent a lot of time rewriting to try to minimize reader confusion.
Fun fact: the painting on the front cover, of Odysseus, washed up on the shore of Phaeacia, kneeling in front of Nausicaä, actually hung in the court’s chamber. The book contains a wonderful description of the courtroom and how it was designed to send a message of rehabilitation. 3/3
October 16, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Fun fact: the painting on the front cover, of Odysseus, washed up on the shore of Phaeacia, kneeling in front of Nausicaä, actually hung in the court’s chamber. The book contains a wonderful description of the courtroom and how it was designed to send a message of rehabilitation. 3/3
Court, Credit, and Capital, A brilliant blend of legal, economic, and cultural history that reveals how credit and trust sustained commerce during the Dutch Golden Age 2/3
October 16, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Court, Credit, and Capital, A brilliant blend of legal, economic, and cultural history that reveals how credit and trust sustained commerce during the Dutch Golden Age 2/3
The God and the Bureaucrat is also just a great read. I enjoyed working with Zach to get it published with Studies in Legal History, and I’m happy to see it in print! 6/6
August 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
The God and the Bureaucrat is also just a great read. I enjoyed working with Zach to get it published with Studies in Legal History, and I’m happy to see it in print! 6/6
The Roman law that has come down to us is thus not a record of how Roman law actually worked on the ground so much as it is a record of how the Roman emperors represented their rule through the medium of law. 5/6
August 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
The Roman law that has come down to us is thus not a record of how Roman law actually worked on the ground so much as it is a record of how the Roman emperors represented their rule through the medium of law. 5/6
As Herz puts it “Classical Roman law should be understood not as a record of Classical Romans actually handling their legal business, but instead as a record of Romans using the structures of law to tell stories about their world and in particular about their state.” 4/6
August 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
As Herz puts it “Classical Roman law should be understood not as a record of Classical Romans actually handling their legal business, but instead as a record of Romans using the structures of law to tell stories about their world and in particular about their state.” 4/6
Herz takes us through the process by which Roman law acquired these attributes. He argues that emperors used law as an important means of political representation. 3/6
August 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Herz takes us through the process by which Roman law acquired these attributes. He argues that emperors used law as an important means of political representation. 3/6
Herz starts with the observation that Roman law, in the form in which it has come down to us, has three important attributes: it is suprapersonal (i.e., authority does not depend on the personality of the particular emperor issuing the law), it is technocratic, and it is supreme. 2/6
August 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Herz starts with the observation that Roman law, in the form in which it has come down to us, has three important attributes: it is suprapersonal (i.e., authority does not depend on the personality of the particular emperor issuing the law), it is technocratic, and it is supreme. 2/6
As a thank-you, the very thoughtful students in the legal history society gave me these.
May 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
As a thank-you, the very thoughtful students in the legal history society gave me these.
Reposted by Thomas McSweeney
And link to my own article: Politics from Law or Law as Politics? Hugh of Poitiers’s Chronica and the Politics of ius in the Mid-twelfth Century www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Politics from Law or Law as Politics? Hugh of Poitiers’s Chronica and the Politics of ius in the Mid-twelfth Century
This paper considers the relationship between the modern concepts of law and politics and the twelfth-century concept of ius (‘law, right’) in a chronicle written by a monk, Hugh of Poitiers, betwe...
www.tandfonline.com
March 24, 2025 at 5:24 PM
And link to my own article: Politics from Law or Law as Politics? Hugh of Poitiers’s Chronica and the Politics of ius in the Mid-twelfth Century www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
A link to the minutes at Swem: digital.libraries.wm.edu/node/383718
Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Chapter Minutes, 1776 December-1781 January
Covers December 5, 1776 to January 1781. Printed drawing of the old Raleigh Tavern laid in. Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Chapter Records
digital.libraries.wm.edu
December 5, 2024 at 12:16 PM
A link to the minutes at Swem: digital.libraries.wm.edu/node/383718