About this Course
Postgraduate Laws programme:
Master of Laws (LLM), Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate
Course outline
| Western European legal history |
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| Section A: The Foundation: Roman and Canon law 500-1100 |
| · The Corpus Juris Civilis and its survival until the eleventh century |
| · Roman law outside the Justinianic tradition: Visigothic and Frankish law |
| · The Canon law in the West: Canon law collections before Gratian |
| · Feudal law and Roman law in Italy |
| · The revival of the study of Roman law |
| Section B: Interactions of Roman and local law: twelfth-sixteenth centuries |
| · Gratian and the formation of the learned Canon law |
| · The consolidation of Roman law: the Glossators |
| · The expansion of Roman law: the Commentators |
| · Canon law scholarship, practice and influence |
| · Roman law and political thought |
| Section C: National laws and codification: sixteenth-nineteenth centuries |
| · The renaissance of Roman law: humanism in Rome and France |
| · The droit écrit and droit coutumier in France |
| · Mos italicus and mos gallicus |
| · The reception in Germany |
| · The Dutch elegant school and the Natural Law movement |
| Section D: Modern perspectives on the Ius Commune |
| · Early Natural law codifications |
| · Codification in France and its empire |
| · German romanticism: Savigny vs Thibault |
| · Pandektenrecht and Mommsen: German codification and scholarly reaction in Roman law |
| · Survival and continuity (a) Andorra, San Marino and the Channel Islands (b) Scottish amalgam of feudal and Roman law (c) South African blend of Common law procedure and Roman law substance |
| Sequence: The sections must be attempted in order. |
| Textbooks: Peter Stein, Roman Law in European History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), ISBN: 9780521643795 |
| O. F. Robinson, W. M. Gordon and David Fergus, European Legal History 3rd ed (Abingdon: LexisNexis UK, 2000), ISBN: 9780406913609 |
| Manlio Bellomo and Lydia G. Cochrane, The Common Legal Past of Europe (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1995), ISBN: 9780813208145 |