The Formation and Transmission of Western Legal Culture: 150 Books that Made the Law in the Age of Printing

Serge Dauchy · Georges Martyn · Anthony Musson · Heikki Pihlajamäki · Alain Wijffels

dhj 2016 · Studies in the History of Law and Justice Libri 7 · Springer

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This volume surveys 150 law books of fundamental importance in the history of Western legal literature and culture. The entries are organized in three sections: the first dealing with the transitional period of fifteenth-century editions of medieval authorities, the second spanning the early modern period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, and the third focusing on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The contributors are scholars from all over the world. Each ‘old book’ is analyzed by a recognized specialist in the specific field of interest. Individual entries give a short biography of the author and discuss the significance of the works in the time and setting of their publication, and in their broader influence on the development of law worldwide. Introductory essays explore the development of Western legal traditions, especially the influence of the English common law, and of Roman and canon law on legal writers, and the borrowings and interaction between them.

The book goes beyond the study of institutions and traditions of individual countries to chart a broader perspective on the transmission of legal concepts across legal, political, and geographical boundaries. Examining the branches of this genealogical tree of books makes clear their pervasive influence on modern legal systems, including attempts at rationalizing custom or creating new hybrid systems by transplanting Western legal concepts into other jurisdictions.

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Serge Dauchy, PhD (Ghent 1991), Habilitation Law (Lille 1997), is senior research fellow of the French CNRS and was director of the ‘Centre for judicial history’ at the University of Lille until 2014. He is Director of the Lille Doctorate School in Legal and Political Sciences since 2009 and professor of legal history at the University Saint-Louis of Brussels.

Georges Martyn, Dr.jur. (Leuven 1996), is professor of legal history at Ghent University since 1999. He was advocaat at the Kortrijk Bar (1992-2009) and is a substitute justice of the peace and honorary member of the Ghent Bar.
Anthony Musson, PhD (Cantab 1994) and barrister of the Middle Temple (called 1997) is professor of legal history and Director of the Bracton Centre for Legal History Research at the University of Exeter.
Heikki Pihlajamäki, Dr.jur. (Helsinki 1996), is professor of comparative legal history at the University of Helsinki since 2009. He is an ordinary member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.
Alain Wijffels, Dr.jur. (Amst.), PhD (Cantab.), DLitt. (Cantab.), teaches legal history and comparative law at the universities of Louvain-la-Neuve, Leuven and Leiden. He is senior research fellow of the French CNRS and a member of the ‘Centre for judicial history’ at the University of Lille.