Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

LAW BEFORE GRATIAN: LAW IN WESTERN EUROPE c 500-1100. Ed by P Andersen, M Münster-Swendsen and H Vogt Copenhagen: DJØF Publishing (www.djoef-forlag.dk), 2007. iv + 141 pp. ISBN 9788757416473. £12.

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 May 2009
Published date01 May 2009
DOI10.3366/E1364980909001735
AuthorPaul du  Plessis
Pages371-372

This edited collection is the third volume (from a total of four) in an exiting new series which is the result of a cycle of conferences on medieval legal history hosted by the Carlsberg Academy in Copenhagen. At the time of writing, the fourth volume, Law and Power in the Middle Ages (2008) has also just been published. The first volume in the series dealt with medieval Nordic law while the second was devoted to the issue of law and learning in the Middle Ages, and, more specifically, with an examination of the theological and legal schooling that the “creators” of the laws received at the major centres of learning in Europe. It also addressed a number of important questions concerning the creation and development of legal professions and the dynamics between legal practice and theoretical, learned approaches to jurisprudence.

The current volume, devoted to the topic of “early” medieval law before the rediscovery of Justinian's Digest in northern Italy in the twelfth century, is an important scholarly contribution. Its six papers deals with issues as diverse as the medieval transmission of Justinian's Codex, the sources of canon law before Gratian, settlement of disputes in Frankish kingdoms, and the notion of a pan-European medieval “common law”. These diverse topics are neatly drawn together by a lucid and very informative preface written by the editors. While any one of these excellent contributions could be discussed at length, I will limit my comments to two contributions in particular. First, the chapter by Maurizio...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT