European law in the past and the future : unity and diversity over two millennia / R.C. van Caenegem.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Caenegem, R. C. van, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Law--Europe--International unification.

Law.

Europe.

Law--Europe--Codification.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 175 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Other Title:

European Law in the Past & the Future

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2002.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

As Europe moves towards economic and political unification, many wonder why legal unification makes so little headway. In this concise but wide-ranging book, R. C. van Caenegem considers the historical reasons behind this legal diversity. He stresses the importance of the adoption on the Continent - but not in England - of the classical law of the Romans, and shows how the rise of the nation states led to a multitude of national codes of law. The impact of politics on legal development is another key factor, and as a graphic example van Caenegem provides a detailed account of how the German past was extolled in Nazi Germany. The book concludes with a consideration of the ongoing debate on the desirability - indeed, on the possibility - of European legal unification and of a federal constitution for a united Europe.

Contents:

1. The national codes: a transient phase

2. Ius commune: the first unification of European law

3. Common law and civil law: neighbours yet strangers

4. The holy books of the law

5. Why did the ius commune conquer Europe?

6. Law is politics.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9780511495083

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.