Jurisdictional Accumulation: An Early Modern History of Law, Empires, and Capital

European early modern empires developed practices of jurisdictional accumulation through extensions, transports, and transplants of authority. This book explores the role of diplomatic and colonial agents in enabling these transfers, contributing to historical sociology and challenging common binaries in conventional and critical histories.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 342 pages
\n Publication date: 22 October 2020
\n Publisher: Cambridge University Press
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The majority of European early modern empires, including the Castilian, French, Dutch, and English/British, adopted practices of jurisdictional accumulation. These empires expanded their authority through various means, including extensions, transports, and transplants of authority. This book delves into the role of diplomatic and colonial agents in facilitating the transfers and transplantation of sovereign authority. Through historical analyses of ambassadors and consuls in the Mediterranean region, as well as the empires' Atlantic imperial expansions and conquests, the book makes a significant analytical contribution to historical sociology.

This interdisciplinary work employs a Political Marxist framework and its concept of social property relations to challenge conventional binaries in both conventional and critical histories. By highlighting the roles of ambassadors, consuls, merchants, and lawyers in the construction of modern international relations and international law, the book offers a fresh perspective on the complex dynamics of power and authority in the early modern world.

The concept of jurisdictional accumulation brings these individuals out of the shadows of empire and onto the main stage of history. It recognizes their crucial contributions to the formation of international networks and the development of legal frameworks that governed interstate relations. Through their interactions and negotiations, these agents played a vital role in shaping the political and legal landscape of the early modern world, laying the foundation for the modern international system we know today.

\n Weight: 674g\n
Dimension: 159 x 236 x 27 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781108497206\n \n