This book offers a painstaking reconstruction of the Reformation's impact on the ecclesiastical element of Scotland's legal system during the key transitional years of 1558–72. Drawing on intensive analysis of case evidence from matrimonial litigation, Green explores the significant and complex challenges which Reformation upheavals posed for the orderly function of the legal system, and the ways in which lawyers and judges reacted to the crisis. One of the most interesting aspects to emerge is the essential caution and moderation with which lawyerly opinion responded, mostly attempting to re-establish a sense of order alongside the suppression of Catholic church courts and the emergence of new Protestant church courts. The legal situation was complicated, but even where there were rival and potentially competing jurisdictions, a strict focus on the particulars of individual cases and a willingness to avoid comment or action on politically sensitive matters seemed to dominate. The key new institution to emerge was the commissary court system, which from 1564 inherited the matrimonial jurisdiction from the pre-Reformation church courts, which the new Protestant kirk sessions and superintendents’ courts had been undertaking in the early 1560s. There was some ongoing exercise of this jurisdiction by the new courts, especially in St Andrews until about 1572, but even here open jurisdictional conflict was minimal. The author's approach is exceptionally detailed and legally-focused, and in this lie both the key strengths and limitations of this study. The rigorous analysis of complex legal actions from each form of jurisdiction in turn means that a far more fine-grained interpretation of developments is possible than could be achieved from broader or secondary discussions of legal issues. This can come at the cost of accessibility: the style is dense and legalistic, and the jurisdictional structure leads to a very frequent use of cross-references to discussions in other chapters. That this book is a challenging read is, however, probably justified by the nature of the subject matter. It is certainly essential reading for anyone interested in the legal history of the Scottish Reformation. The other cost of the approach is a limited engagement with wider issues and implications. The specific findings on approaches to jurisdiction and matrimonial law are not explicitly connected to recent developments in the historiography of the Scottish Reformation, and the study does not build on the main analysis to reflect on what the core findings might have to tell us about wider issues and debates in the field. This was clearly a conscious decision by the author, and again should be viewed by the potential reader of the book in conjunction with the strength of the research in depth and focus of legal analysis. One is even tempted to speculate that the circumspection in avoiding engagement with wider Reformation battles is one which the book's sixteenth-century lawyerly subjects might themselves have recognised, and appreciated.