The first English translation of a comprehensive legal history of Europe from the early middle ages to the twentieth century, encompassing both the common aspects and the original developments of different countries. As well as legal scholars and professionals, it will appeal to those interested in the general history of European civilisation.

Comprehensive and accessible, this book offers a concise synthesis of the evolution of the law in Western Europe, from ancient Rome to the beginning of the twentieth century. It situates law in the wider framework of Europe’s political, economic, social and cultural developments.

Tamar Herzog offers a road map to European law across 2,500 years that reveals underlying patterns and unexpected connections. By showing what European law was, where its iterations were found, who made and implemented it, and what the results were, she ties legal norms to their historical circumstances and reveals the law’s fragile malleability.

How Roman law has influenced European legal and political thought from antiquity to the present day.

R. C. van Caenegem considers the historical reasons behind European legal diversity.

This book explores the development of law in Europe from its medieval origins to the present day, charting the transformation from law rooted in the Church and local community towards a recognition of the centralised, secular authority of the state. Shows how these changes reflect the wider political, economic, and cultural developments within European history Demonstrates the diversity of traditions between European states and the possibilities and limitations in the search for common European values and goals

R.C. Van Caenegem is the successor of Henri Pirenne and of F.L. Ganshof at the University of Ghent. These essays reflect Van Caenegem's main interests over his career: the Common Law in England and Customary Law in the Low Countries; the differences between institutional development in England and in the rest of Europe; and the forces making for autocratic as opposed to representative government. A number of pieces discuss the nature of history itself: how it compares with the sciences and what it can teach us. Two essays commemorate the lives and work of Pirenne and Ganshof.

Essays on medieval law, including a number of comparative studies on England and the low countries.