The Creation of the Ius Commune: From Casus to Regula
John W. Cairns and Paul J. du Plessis
Abstract
This book surveys the traditional classifications of private law to establish the cognitive techniques used by medieval Italian and French jurists to transform Roman law into the ius commune of Western Europe. It discusses in detail how medieval scholars reacted to the casuistic discussions in the inherited Roman texts, particularly the Digest of Justinian. It shows how they developed medieval Roman law into a system of rules that formed a universal common law for Western Europe. Because there has been little research published in English beyond grand narratives on the history of law in Europe ... More
This book surveys the traditional classifications of private law to establish the cognitive techniques used by medieval Italian and French jurists to transform Roman law into the ius commune of Western Europe. It discusses in detail how medieval scholars reacted to the casuistic discussions in the inherited Roman texts, particularly the Digest of Justinian. It shows how they developed medieval Roman law into a system of rules that formed a universal common law for Western Europe. Because there has been little research published in English beyond grand narratives on the history of law in Europe, this book fills a gap in the literature. With a focus on how the medieval Roman lawyers systematised the Roman sources through detailed discussions of specific areas of law, it considers: the sources of medieval law and how to access them; the development from cases to rules; medieval lawyers' strategies for citing each other and their significance; and the growth of a conceptual approach to the study of law.
Keywords:
private law,
Italian jurists,
French jurists,
medieval scholars,
Justinian's Digest,
medieval law sources
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780748638970 |
| Published to Edinburgh Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638970.001.0001 |
