An Historical Introduction to Modern Civil Law Laws of the Nations Series

The civil law systems of continental Europe, Latin America and other parts of the world, including Japan, share a common legal heritage derived from Roman law. However, it is an inheritance which has been modified and adapted over the centuries as a result of contact with Germanic legal concepts, the work of jurists in the mediaeval universities, the growth of the canon law of the western Church, the humanist scholarship of the Renaissance and the rationalism of the natural lawyers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This volume provides a critical appreciation of modern civilian systems by examining current rules and structures in the context of their 2,500 year development. It is not a narrative history of civil law, but an historical examination of the forces and influences which have shaped the form and the content of modern codes, as well as the legislative and judicial processes by which they are created are administered.

Contents: Sources and Influences: The Roman Republic; The principate; The dominate; The dark ages; The rebirth of civil law; Humanism and the age of reason; Codification; An historical overview of modern civil law. Private Law: The law of persons; Family property and succession; The law of property; The law of obligations; The law of actions. Public Law: The concept and function of the state; The law of civil procedure; Criminal justice; Administrative justice; The legal profession. Conclusion: the future of civil law; Contents; Index.

Thomas Glyn Watkin