Defining a British State Treason and National Identity, 1608-1820

'In Defining a British State , Lisa Steffen has given us both a valuable insight into the law of high treason and its use in Stuart and Hanoverian England, and a thought-provoking discussion of the meanings behind the doctrine. She shows how a medieval English law designed to maintain the personal bond of allegiance to the sovereign was flexible enough to be used against Scots professing continued allegiance to their de jure king, in order to secure the Hanoverian succession against Jacobite attacks, but proved harder to use when the government sought to convict enemies of the state whose target was not the king. Her discussion is an important one, for both legal and political historians, and makes a useful contribution to the ongoing debate about the nature of the state in the eighteenth century.' - Michael Lobban, Brunel University