Amazon.com description: Product Description: Michael Smith's long service in the ministry was in academia as well as in the pastorate, and one of his primary studies was the history of the ecclesiastical courts of England and Wales. Here he describes the legal framework within which the courts operated, with emphasis on how those who administered those courts worked between 1680 and 1840. With an eye toward inspiring further research and study, Smith's nine essays ably cover the atmosphere of the courts, the ecclesiastical lawyers, and entry into the profession, canonical jurisprudence, censures and penalties, including their effectiveness, plenary and summary criminal procedures, clergy discipline cases and the role of bishops in their administration, commissions and clandestine marriages, the influence of statute law, and the waning of the system which both bishops and parishioners had found to be ineffective in dealing with clergy misbehavior. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)