Eighteen articles, concerned with the origin and early development of the idea of natural rights, aspects of medieval law and political thought with an overview of modern work on medieval canon law, and the history of papal infallibility with reference to the tradition of Franciscan ecclesiology. '..the essays in this volume constitute an important distillation of scholarship on the history of medieval canon law and political theory. We see the A[uthor] at his absolute best- challenging cherished but untenable views, creatively reworking the whole tradition of medieval political and legal historiography, and even occasionally breaking some icons. This is an important work that allows one to grasp fully the range and importance of his scholarship. His work on rights, on religious liberty, on papal infallibility and the many other themes touched on in this collection is as timely and compelling now as when first written.' Studia Canonica, Vol. 32