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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Medieval and Early Modern Justice

Medieval and Early Modern Justice is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 7k research works in it since 1950. 11.6% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the evolution of judicial systems, legal institutions, and court practices in Europe, focusing on topics such as social control, criminal justice, feudal law, and the role of legal history in understanding medieval society. It delves into the intricacies of crime and punishment, shedding light on the development of judicial systems during the Renaissance period.

  • Judicial Systems
  • Legal History
  • Social Control
  • Criminal Justice
  • Medieval Society
  • Court Practices
  • Feudal Law
  • Crime and Punishment
  • Legal Institutions
  • Renaissance Justice
Research works
7k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
807
per year above
Top-10% rate
11.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+17%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
61% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Medieval and Early Modern Justice

Which countries lead Medieval and Early Modern Justice research?

By volume, France and Italy publish the most (903 and 206 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 903 works
  2. 2 Italy 206 works
  3. 3 United States 98 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 66 works
  5. 5 ?? 55 works
  6. 6 Belgium 50 works
  7. 7 Germany 32 works
  8. 8 Canada 32 works
  9. 9 Spain 29 works
  10. 10 Switzerland 22 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

France: 60.6%Italy: 13.8%United States: 6.5%United Kingdom: 4.4%6 others listed: 14.7%61%largest
France903 · 60.6%Italy206 · 13.8%United States98 · 6.5%United Kingdom66 · 4.4%6 others listed219 · 14.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Medieval and Early Modern Justice research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Medieval and Early Modern Justice research, followed by Université de Caen Normandie and Université de Lorraine.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 282 works
  2. 2 Université de Caen NormandieFrance 35 works
  3. 3 Université de LorraineFrance 30 works
  4. 4 Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneFrance 26 works
  5. 5 Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 24 works
  6. 6 Université de LyonFrance 24 works
  7. 7 University of MilanItaly 23 works
  8. 8 Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques PréventivesFrance 19 works
  9. 9 Université Paris Sciences et LettresFrance 18 works
  10. 10 Université Paris NanterreFrance 18 works

Who are the leading researchers in Medieval and Early Modern Justice?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Medieval and Early Modern Justice include M. Cuffiani, Pierre Legendre and Sigmund Freud.

  1. 1 M. Cuffiani Switzerland 115k citations
  2. 2 Pierre Legendre Canada 98k citations
  3. 3 Sigmund Freud Brazil 97k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Medieval and Early Modern Justice?

The most cited paper in Medieval and Early Modern Justice is "Eternal light and earthly needs: practical aspects of the development of Frankish immunities" (Paul Fouracre, 1995), with 148 citations. Next come "On the Political Foundations of the Late Medieval Commercial Revolution: Genoa During the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries" (144) and "The tradition of penitentials in Anglo-Saxon England" (139).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Eternal light and earthly needs: practical aspects of the development of Frankish immunities Paul Fouracre · Cambridge University Press eBooks Book chapter 23 Nov 1995 148
2 On the Political Foundations of the Late Medieval Commercial Revolution: Genoa During the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries Avner Greif · The Journal of Economic History Jun 1994 144
3 The tradition of penitentials in Anglo-Saxon England Allen J. Frantzen · Anglo-Saxon England Dec 1982 139
4 Le Cens Senatorial sous la Republique et sous Auguste Claude Nicolet · The Journal of Roman Studies Nov 1976 137
5 The Social History of confession in the Age of the Reformation John Bossy · Transactions of the Royal Historical Society Dec 1975 137
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Medieval and Early Modern Justice research done?

The largest centres of Medieval and Early Modern Justice research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Lyon (France), Toulouse (France) and Caen (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Caen, Poitiers and Tours.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 221 works
  2. 2 LyonFrance 51 works
  3. 3 ToulouseFrance 44 works
  4. 4 CaenFrance 40 works
  5. 5 MilanItaly 34 works
  6. 6 NanterreFrance 28 works
  7. 7 LilleFrance 27 works
  8. 8 RomeItaly 25 works
  9. 9 PoitiersFrance 25 works
  10. 10 RennesFrance 24 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CaenFR · 39.8 works97×
  2. PoitiersFR · 25.2 works81×
  3. ToursFR · 21.3 works65×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Medieval and Early Modern Justice than the world average.

See Medieval and Early Modern Justice on the map

Where is the best place to study Medieval and Early Modern Justice?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Milan, University of Naples Federico II and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 10.21%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Naples…University of MilanUniversity of TurinUniversité Paris 1 P…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of MilanItaly 66.015.6%25.2×23 -21.8%
2University of Naples Federico IIItaly 63.319.3%8.4×8 +21.2%
3Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneFrance 60.810.3%116.2×26 +16.5%
4University of TurinItaly 57.513.5%15.5×12 +29.9%
5Université de LyonFrance 56.77.1%26.9×24 +40.3%
6Université de Caen NormandieFrance 56.24.9%145.3×35 +294.3%
7Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 55.26.3%42.8×24 +57.1%
8Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 52.98.8%17.2×16 +50.8%
9Université de LorraineFrance 52.64.7%56.9×30 +68.8%
10Université Paris NanterreFrance 49.511.6%61.8×18 +30.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Medieval and Early Modern Justice, country by country

Is Medieval and Early Modern Justice research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 17% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Medieval and Early Modern Justice.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Medieval and Early Modern Justice as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0069% in 2024.

still counting0.0025%0.0050%0.0075%Medieval and Early Modern Justice0.0075% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Medieval and Early Modern Justice over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting10%20%30%Medieval and Early Modern Justice9.5% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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