Justice and Society in the Highlands of Scotland: Strathspey and the Regality of Grant (c.1690–1758)

Abstract

isprudents. Cino might be particularly useful, given his unusual commentary on the Codex which wove together the canon, civil and customary law. Also, given that the very influential civilians Bartolus and Baldus de Ubaldis both taught in Pisa during the first half of the fourteenth century, some reflection on their views might have provided additional insights. Such attention to the ius commune would have heightened the already considerable comparative dimensions of the study. To be fair, Zanetti Domingues rightly notes that the influence, if any, of Roman law on the ‘penitential model’ is difficult to trace. She contends that the principle of reciprocity likely imitated the Old Testament lex talionis more than any contemporary civilian jurisprudence or practice (150–51). These concluding observations do not detract in the slightest from this reviewer’s appreciation of this excellent work. Legal historians will find this a valuable study. The same holds true for those who examine late medieval theology and society. Zanetti Domingues has provided a nuanced, detailed study of how a late medieval commune understood violence, punishment and spirituality in complex, interdependent ways. By selecting Siena, she has challenged a body of interpretation that has often relied on evidence from Bologna and Florence. No less significant is her argument, noted above, that Siena’s statutes do not reflect the trend towards greater severity in punishment. It would be useful to test this in the statutes from other communes that, like Siena, have not received the close attention given to Florence or Bologna. Future studies of the theory and practice of criminal justice in medieval cities should pay close attention to this work of Zanetti Domingues.