A Study On The System Of Printing And Publishing The Law Books In Tudor England

The Tudor Dynasty was the beginning of modern printing and publishing industry in England.The newly established Tudor dynasty disseminated national laws through printing and publishing of the law books,and strengthening and consolidating the royal power.The legal profession tried to promote legal education and consolidate legal professional status.Therefore,exploring the printing and publishing system of the law books in Tudor England is not only helpful for us to deepen our understanding of the origin of modern printing and publishing system in England,but also helpful for us to further understand the historical process of the rule of law in Britain.The printing and publishing did not separate in England at that time,and it was not until the 19th century that they became independent industries from each other.In 1504,Henry VII established the office of king's printer and the printing and publishing system of the law books in England began to grow.In 1556,Mary I issued a charter authorizing the establishment of the Stationers' Company of London.The establishment of the Company broke the monopoly of the king's printer over the printing and publishing of the law books and became the only Corporation that monopolized the printing and publishing of English law books outside the king's printer.However,the English king's practice of granting printing patents broke the balance of interests between booksellers and further intensified the conflicts between booksellers.In order to ease this contradiction,the Stationers' Company of London applied for the establishment of the English Stock in 1603.The printing and publishing system of English law books had also entered a new stage.Therefore,the main period covered in this article is from 1504 to 1603.At present,no special study has been carried out on the printing and publishing system of the law books in Tudor England.The domestic academic circles have mostly discussed the English printing and publishing system from a macro perspective,that is,describing the English printing and publishing system in one period or across multiple periods.In recent years,some scholars have also studied the Stationers' Company of London,but so far they have not paid attention to the printing and publishing system of the law books.Foreign academic circles have made a lot of researches on the printing and publishing system of the law books in the Tudor Dynasty,but they are not systematic and centralized.Therefore,this paper attempts to explore the background,main contents and influence of the printing and publishing system of the law books in the Tudor Dynasty by combing and interpreting relevant laws and regulationsThis article consists of three parts:introduction,main body and conclusion.Among them,the introduction part mainly introduces the main issues studied in this paper,namely,the formation and evolution of the printing and publishing system of the law books in the Tudor Dynasty.At the same time,the paper defines the key words and key terms such as law books,printing and publishing system and so on.On the basis of sorting out and grasping the relevant research situation at home and abroad,this paper first briefly introduces the relevant authoritative documents related to the printing and publishing decrees of the law books in the Tudor Dynasty,such as Statutes of the Realm and Tudor Royal Proclamations,then focuses on the charter of the Stationers' Company of London and its English Stock,and other archival records such as A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London and The Charter and Grants of the Company of Stationers of the City of London,and then introduces A Bibliography of Early English Law Books and its supplementary documents.In addition,it also makes clear that the way of thinking for the research by using the theoretical methods of Marxist genesis,economic and social history and hermeneutic text interpretation.The main part of the paper is divided into three chapters.The first chapter mainly discusses the historical background of the formation of the printing and publishing system of the law books during the Tudor Dynasty.The Tudor period was not only an important period of social and economic transformation in England,but also the beginning of modern printing and publishing industry.During this period,England established a new monarchy with kingship as its core and a mercantilist policy of all-round intervention,which was the social and historical background for the establishment of the printing and publishing system of law books.With the introduction of metal movable type printing,the printing and publishing of English law books began to appear,and the corresponding system was gradually formed.The second chapter mainly explains the main contents of the printing and publishing system of the law books from two levels and three stages.Starting from the two levels of the nation and the Stationers' Company of London,this paper analyzes the three historical development stages of the printing and publishing system of the law books,namely,from the king's printer system to the monopoly system of the Stationers'Company of London and then to its English Stock system.The third chapter tries to evaluate the function and influence of the printing and publishing system of the law books.The printing and publishing system of the law books was an important measure taken by Tudor monarchs to safeguard their rule and strengthen their kingship.It has also provided the necessary institutional basis for the formation of modern copyright system.In addition,the printing and publishing of the law books during this period also contributed to the public dissemination of laws and the cultivation of legal talents,thus promoting the process of the rule of law in England.The conclusion of this article summarizes the printing and publishing system of the law books in England during this period,making it clear that the establishment of the printing and publishing system of the law books cannot be separated from the support of new printing technologies and the support of the royal power in England.The evolution of the printing and publishing system of the law books from the individual monopoly to the Corporation and then to the joint stock company control is helpful to understand the strengthening process of the English kingship in the 16th century as well as the gradual features of England society change.