David Harbecke, Modernisation Through Process. The Rise of the Court of Chancery in the European Perspective.

The medieval Court of Chancery has been the object of academic fascination by European legal historians for centuries. This is due in part to the fact that, to use Maitland’s words, it has ‘often been accused of romanizing’ – Chancery procedure shared some features with roman-canon law process. Mostly, however, it is the function that the Chancery performed within the English legal system that has proven most mystifying, as it seems to have no parallels anywhere on the continent. Its role, that is, as an ‘equitable’ jurisdiction, providing relief from the rigour of the common law. David Harbecke’s book - based on his doctoral thesis completed at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt – adds to a long line of research both from England and the continent. At the outset, Harbecke acknowledges (accurately, if not very encouragingly) that ‘historical accounts have commonly failed to explain the reason for… this seemingly inscrutable late medieval phenomenon’. Harbecke brings a new strategy to the table – he believes that the reason why previous accounts have failed is that they have not sought to ground the medieval function of the Court of Chancery in modern legal theory. Such a theoretical model can, according to Harbecke, both illuminate the reason why the Chancery came to perform the role it did, and allow us to draw meaningful comparisons with courts in the rest of Europe.