European Law in the Past and the Future
Unity and Diversity over Two Millennia

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

R. C. van Caenegem (Author)

9780521006484, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 December 2001

184 pages
21.7 x 13.9 x 1.4 cm, 0.26 kg

'This book takes the reader along a brisk, pleasant stroll down well-trodden paths - filled as they usually are with familiar turns and the occasional, unexpected gem.' Legal History

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.

Preface
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
Epilogue: a look into the twenty-first century
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Laws of Specific jurisdictions [LN], Comparative law [LAM], European history [HBJD]