Randall Lesaffer, EUROPEAN LEGAL HISTORY: A CULTURAL AND POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (www.cambridge.org), 2009. ix + 549 pp. ISBN 9780521701778 (pb). £27.99. ISBN 9780521877985 (hb). £65.
| Pages | 144-145 |
| Author | Paul J du Plessis |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2011.0007 |
| Published date | 01 January 2011 |
| Date | 01 January 2011 |
Lesaffer's interesting new book on the history of legal development in Europe is a novel take on an old idea. The main aim of the book, according to its author (viii), is to provide an account of the external history of legal development in Europe for those who do not have a detailed knowledge of general European history. In this respect, it continues a long and illustrious tradition started by the German jurist Savigny whose monumental
The book is divided into seven chapters, each of which follows roughly the same internal division. In each chapter, an external history of the period is provided (under the heading “politics and the state”), which is followed by an overview of the legal development during that period (under the heading “culture and the law”). An interesting feature of the book is that Lesaffer has identified a key feature of the legal culture of each period and has structured his discussion around it, e.g. in the chapter on Roman law, the salient feature has been identified as
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