Formation And Transmission Of Western Legal Culture

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.

Maciej Mikuła analyses the Ius municipale Magdeburgense, the most important collection of Magdeburg Law in late medieval Poland, and shows that the adaptation of Magdeburg Law was a complex process.

This book, one of two volumes, is an anthology that analyses, through selected examples, the role played in the development of private law by the pursuit of goals serving modernisation or national ideologies in various countries, cultural spheres, and periods.

This volume tells the story of the interaction between Christianity and law-historically and today, in the traditional heartlands of Christianity and around the globe. Sixty new chapters by leading scholars provide authoritative and accessible accounts of foundational Christian teachings on law and legal thought over the past two millennia; the current interaction and contestation of law and Christianity on all continents; how Christianity shaped and was shaped by core public, private, penal, and procedural laws; various old and new forms of Christian canon law, natural law theory, and religious freedom norms; Christian teachings on fundamental principles of law and legal order; and Christian contributions to controversial legal issues. Together, the chapters make clear that Christianity and law have had a perennial and permanent influence on each other over time and across cultures, albeit with varying levels of intensity and effectiveness. This volume defines "Christianity" broadly to include Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions and various denominations and schools of thought within them. It draws on Christian ideas and institutions, norms and practices, texts and titans to tell the story of Christianity's engagement with the world of law over the past two millennia. The volume also defines "law" broadly as the normative order of justice, power, and freedom. The chapters address natural laws of conscience, reason, and the Bible and positive laws enacted by states, churches, and voluntary associations. Several chapters focus on Christian engagement with specific types of law: canon law, family law, education law, constitutional law, criminal law, procedural law, and laws governing labor, tax, contracts, torts, property, and beyond. Other chapters take up cutting edge legal issues of racial justice, environmental care, migration, euthanasia, and (bio)technology as well as fundamental legal principles of liberty, dignity, equality, justice, equity, judgment, and solidarity.

Firmly rooted on Roman and canon law, Italian legal culture has had an impressive influence on the civil law tradition from the Middle Ages to present day, and it is rightly regarded as "the cradle of the European legal culture." Along with Justinian’s compilation, the US Constitution, and the French Civil Code, the Decretum of Master Gratian or the so-called Glossa ordinaria of Accursius are one of the few legal sources that have influenced the entire world for centuries. This volume explores a millennium-long story of law and religion in Italy through a series of twenty-six biographical chapters written by distinguished legal scholars and historians from Italy and around the world. The chapters range from the first Italian civilians and canonists, Irnerius and Gratian in the early twelfth century, to the leading architect of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI. Between these two bookends, this volume offers notable case studies of familiar civilians like Bartolo, Baldo, and Gentili and familiar canonists like Hostiensis, Panormitanus, and Gasparri but also a number of other jurists in the broadest sense who deserve much more attention especially outside of Italy. This diversity of international and methodological perspectives gives the volume its unique character. The book will be essential reading for academics working in the areas of Legal History, Law and Religion, and Constitutional Law and will appeal to scholars, lawyers, and students interested in the interplay between religion and law in the era of globalization.

Im April 2019 wird Jan Hallebeek emeritiert. Damit endet seine aktive Laufbahn als von der Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1989–1999) finanzierter Forscher, als Extraordinarius an der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Utrecht (1997–2006) und zuletzt als Professor für Rechtsgeschichte an der Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (seit 1999). Die Stationen seiner Tätigkeit spiegeln zwei seiner Schwerpunkte wieder: die Kirchen(rechts)geschichte einerseits und das klassische römische Recht und die Geschichte des römischen Rechts in Europa andererseits. In glücklicher Weise konnte Jan Hallebeek sein Engagement für die Altkatholische Kirche mit seiner Arbeit als Forscher verbinden. Die Beiträger greifen das breite rechtshistorische und kirchenrechtliche Spektrum auf, das der Jubilar in seiner eigenen Arbeit aufgespannt hat. Jan Hallebeek will become emeritus in April 2019. That will mark an end to his professional career as Researcher and Lecturer on a Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences post (1989–1999), as Professor Extraordinarius at the Theological Faculty of the University of Utrecht (1997–2006), and as Professor on the Chair of Legal History at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (from 1999 onwards). These positions reflect two focal points of his research: on the one hand Church history and Canon Law, on the other hand classical and particularly medieval Roman law and their history. They matched very felicitously his engagement for and in the Old-Catholic Church. The contributions centre on the themes and questions the honorand has pursued in his work till now.