Protestantism, Law, and Legal Thought

Abstract

This Article analyzes the distinct legal contributions of the Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican, and Anabaptist traditions from the sixteenth century to the twentieth. All four Protestant movements triggered massive shifts of jurisdiction from the church to the state, and engineered striking legal reforms of marriage and family, education and schooling, charity and social welfare. Calvinist reformers made important contributions to theories and laws of democratic revolution, constitutional order, and rule of law. Anglican reformers developed important traditions of Parliamentary sovereignty and freedom of speech. Later Anabaptist and Evangelical reformers pressed hard for religious freedom, separation of church and state, the abolition of slavery, and the moral reform of public life.

Keywords: Protestantism; Lutheranism; Calvinism; Anglicanism; Western law; Legal Theory; Legislative Power; Judicial Power; Religious Freedom; Separation of Church and State; Slavery and Abolition