European Legal History: A Cultural and Political Perspective » (New Edition)

Randall Lesaffer is Professor of Legal History and Dean of the Law School at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. He also teaches cultural history at the Law School of the Catholic University of Leuven.

This historical introduction to the civil law tradition considers the political and cultural context of Europe's legal history.

Preface viii

1 Introduction 1

Part I Ancient Roman law 15

2 Suum cuique tribuere (Ancient Rome, c.1000 BC-AD 565) 17

A Politics and the state 17

B Culture and the law 63

Part II The civil law tradition 121

3 Correction (the Early Middle Ages, c.500-1000) 123

A Politics and the state 123

B Culture and the law 159

4 Auctoritas (the Late Middle Ages, c.1000-1453) 192

A Politics and the state 192

B Culture and the law 235

5 Emulation (the Early Modern Age, 1453-1648) 289

A Politics and the state 289

B Culture and the law 338

6 Ratio (the Modern Age, 1648-1914) 372

A Politics and the state 372

B Culture and the law 438

Epilogue 481

7 Voluntas (the Post-Modern Age, 1914-2004) 483

Index 521