The work is organized into two
dialogues between a
doctor of divinity and a student of law. The first describes
English law, arguing for a robust form of
parliamentary supremacy. The second describes the relation between
statute and common law, on the one hand; and ecclesiastical law, on the other. Hanson divides the argument differently. First, according to Hanson,
Doctor and Student establishes a typology of law, identifying its "types and sources". Second, it embarks on an extensive discussion of
equity. In
Doctor and Student, St. Germain begins by describing the law eternal, or the divine source from which all laws are derived. The laws derived from this, in turn, he divides into "the law of God", i.e.
revelation; "the law of man," i.e.
positive law; and "the law of reason". The law eternal is manifested in the three kinds of temporal laws. Later in the work, St. Germain outlines six sources of English law: the laws of God, the laws of reason, "general" and "local" custom, maxim, and statute. Schoek argues that St. Germain, in
Doctor and Student, "was doing nothing less than challenging the traditional system of
canon law". This is evidently due in part to the radical conclusion of the work: according to Hanson, the book advances a legal theory that "subordinate[s] all law to regal authority". Sale suggests that the work involves a "challenge" by the eponymous doctor and student to the
common law "from the perspective of
conscience". This was a somewhat bizarre critical stance, because at the time the common law and equity were enforced by different courts in England; the
Court of Chancery (since abolished) was where matters of conscience and fairness were most relevant to the adjudication of disputes, whereas the common law courts concerned themselves with a stricter application of legal
precedent. == Reception ==