Judges, Legislators and Professors
Chapters in European Legal History

Examination of divergence of continental and common law by one of the world's foremost legal historians.

R. C. Caenegem (Author)

9780521438179, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 November 1992

216 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.3 cm, 0.28 kg

'This book brings fascinating insights into an area of law that has often been written about. His clear and lucid style makes the book a pleasure to read ... definitely recommended to all who are interested in legal history, comparative law or the legal system in general.' Malaya Law Review

In Judges, legislators and professors one of the world's foremost legal historians shows how and why continental and common law have come to diverge so sharply. Using ten specific examples he investigates the development of European law, not as the manifestation of certain ideological and intellectual trends, but as largely the result of power struggles between the judiciary, the legislators, and legal scholars, each representing certain political and social ambitions. Now available in paperback, Judges, legislators and professors provides an historical introduction to continental law which is readily accessible to readers familiar with the common law tradition and vice-versa.

Part I. The Common Law is Different: Ten Illustrations: 1. The ambiguity of the term 'law'
2. Appeal: a recent development
3. English law is a 'seamless web'
4. The rule of exclusion
5. A land without a constitution?
6. The consequences of parliamentary absolutism
7. The haphazard development of criminal law
8. Prosecution and verdict in criminal trials
9. A law uncodified
Jurists are dispensable
Part II. The Mastery of the Law: Judges, Legislators and Professors: 10. Some facts
11. Explanations: the 'national spirit'?
12. Explanations: authoritarian Roman law and democratic England?
13. Explanations: political history
Part III. The Divergent Paths of Common Law and Civil Law: 14. Common law and civil law: the parting of the ways
15. The ways remain separate
16. Which diverged from which?
Part VI. Which is Best, Case Law, Statute Law, Or Book Law: 17. The judges: amateurs and professionals
18. The courts and their creators
19. Codification: a weapon against the judiciary
20. Law professors serve the powers that be
21. Eight criteria of good law.

Subject Areas: Comparative law [LAM]