This book expands on established doctrine in legal history and sets out a challenge for legal philosophers. The English medieval village community offers a historical and philosophical lens on the concept of custom which challenges accepted notions of what law is. The book traces the study of the medieval village community from early historical works in the nineteenth century through to current research. It demonstrates that some law-making can and has been ‘bottom-up’ in English law, with community-led decisionmaking having a particularly important role in the early common law. The detailed consideration of law in the English village community reveals alternative ways of making and conceiving of law which are not dependent on state authority, particularly in relation to customary and communal property rights. Acknowledging this poses challenges for legal theory: the legal positivism that dominates Western legal philosophy tends to reject custom as a source of law. However, this book argues that medieval customary law ought to be considered ‘law’ if we are ever going to fully understand law – both then and now. The book will be a valuable resource for researchers and academics working in the areas of Legal History, Legal Theory, and Jurisprudence.

In this 1883 work, Frederic Seebohm focuses on the agrarian history of medieval England and the consequent structure of society.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.

This book analyzes the industrialization process of Jianshanxia, a mountain village in Zhejiang Province, and its organizational changes since China's reform and opening-up. As a small mountain village far from the city, Jianshanxia Village used its contingent funds to open up a factory collectively owned by the village. At that time, it was common for city dwellers to run a factory in cities but this was still rare in rural areas. The book analyzes how the village could quickly claim a large market share of the domestic electric mosquito incense market. The successful industrialization of the village increased the income of the villagers, improved its appearance and enhanced its collective economic strength. In retrospect, the transformation of this village was a miracle and a typical example of industrialization of township enterprises in China.