Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 90:358 (Apr 1933)
Article: Wyclif And The Common Law
Author: Harry Pressfield

BSac 90:358 (Apr 1933) p. 175

Wyclif And The Common Law

Harry Pressfield

That John Wyclif was the morning light of the Reformation we well know. But there is another primacy that gives to him great distinction. He was also a morning light in the development of our English common law. This is not so well known. His work as a religious reformer overshadows that of a legal reformer. Far more than we realize, he is prominent among our English legal reformers. If we owe to him much because he set in operation those forces that meant eventually the Protestant Reformation, and the great versions of Scripture in our English speech, we also owe much to him because of the impetus he gave to cherishing the common law as a distinctive treasure of the English people.

There are three great systems of law that operate on our planet: the Roman, or Civil law; the Anglo-American common law; the law of Islam. One-half of the population of the world is brought under the rule of these systems. If we divide this one-half of the population of the world into thirds, each legal system governs approximately one-third. It is claimed by some that the law of Islam is an outgrowth of the Roman law, for through contact with the eastern Roman empire a familiarity with its principles was gained. Just as the service of a Methodist meeting house on a prairie frontier bears a relation to the service in an Anglican cathedral, so Islamic law is merely an adaptation of Roman law to changed conditions of time and place, especially the desert. Unquestionably there is a Roman element in the law of Islam, but not to the extent that some suppose. Islam’s law is an independent development, not an outgrowth. Very largely it is canon law, Semitic in affinity, overlaid with a heavy crust of tradition.

The great codification of the Roman law came under Justinian in the sixth century. It is the main event in the history of that law since the writing of the Twelve Tables. Strictly, it is more a task of revision or abridg-

BSac 90:358 (Apr 1933) p. 176

ment than that of codification, but, at any rate, the completed task embodied in the Corpus Juris Civilis has had a greater influence on the world than any other book, save the Bible. The strange thing is that this work should have exerted so little influence until the revival of the study of Roman law in the twelfth century. We can no longer hold to the view, at times advanced, that Justinian’s code was entirely forgotten during these centuries, then by some miracle discovered, with a consequent revival of study in a flare of enthusiasm. Certain groups were familiar with the code throughout the centuries, but the chaotic conditions of the Middle Ages favored the observance of local laws and customs to the disregard of the great code. These local ...