Public Law Researsh

An Account of the Formation of Modern Public Law from Medieval Legal Relations: Based on Martin Loughlin's Reading

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mahdi Barati Ahmadabadi 1
Mohammad Javaheri Tehrani 2

1 Department of Public Law and International Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

2 Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences. Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22054/qjpl.2026.85550.3118
Abstract
This article examines the influence of medieval political thought—particularly concerning legitimacy and authoritative normative system—on the formation of the modern idea of the state and secular law in the domain of public law. With the precision of a skilled archaeologist, Martin Loughlin traces how seemingly ideological disputes between the Papal Curia and the Holy Roman Empire on one side, and independent monarchical realms challenging papal authority on the other, gradually allowed theological and legal arguments to carve out a space for normative validity within the Permissible Zone of religious law. By adapting the Aristotelian concept of nature to reinterpret the Christian notion of divine grace, this process created the groundwork for a secular domain in jurisprudence.

Furthermore, a faction within the Church employed theological interpretations to legitimize papal succession, advocating a distinction between the office and the person of the ruler. This reasoning ultimately contributed to the differentiation between the legal and natural personhood of the sovereign in the modern conception of the state. Through a detailed analysis of these two developments, this article demonstrates how—contrary to the reductive assumptions prevalent in Iranian academic discourse—religious institutions and ideas played an instrumental role in shaping the foundations of modern public law.

Keywords

Political Theology
Sovereignty
Secular Law
Constitutionalism
Respublica Christiana
Subjects
Public Law Researsh

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 May 2026

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