Law in American Meetinghouses: Church Discipline and Civil Authority in Kentucky, 1780–1845. By Jeffrey Thomas Perry.

Over time, church members became increasingly dissatisfied with the results of church-led arbitration hearings, asserting that decisions lacked impartiality or failed to consider matters from a jurisprudential viewpoint. Perry's use of civil court records alongside church records is novel in examining ecclesiastical disciplinary matters. As the economic landscape of the United States changed rapidly during the market revolution of the 1820 s, church members found it necessary "to look beyond church walls for effective arbitration within an economy shaped by impersonal market forces" (p. 83). [Extracted from the article]