R. C. van Caenegem – författare

In Judges, legislators and professors one of the world's foremost legal historians shows how and why continental and common law have come to diverge so sharply. Using ten specific examples he investigates the development of European law, not as the manifestation of certain ideological and intellectual trends, but as largely the result of power struggles between the judiciary, the legislators, and legal scholars, each representing certain political and social ambitions. Now available in paperback, Judges, legislators and professors provides an historical introduction to continental law which is readily accessible to readers familiar with the common law tradition and vice-versa.

This book provides a challenging interpretation of the emergence of the common law in Anglo-Norman England, against the background of the general development of legal institutions in Europe. In a detailed discussion of the emergence of the central courts and the common law they administered, the author traces the rise of the writ system and the growth of the jury system in twelfth-century England. Professor van Caenegem attempts to explain why English law is so different from that on the Continent and why this divergence began in the twelfth century, arguing that chance and chronological accident played the major part and led to the paradox of a feudal law of continental origin becoming one of the most typical manifestations of English life and thought. First published in 1973, The Birth of the English Common Law has come to enjoy classical status, and in a preface Professor van Caenegem discusses some recent developments in the study of English law under the Norman and earliest Angevin kings.

In this book one of the world's foremost legal historians attempts to explain what produced the private law of the western world as we know it today. Professor van Caenegem pays particular attention to the origins of the common law - civil law dichotomy, and how it arose that England and the continent of Europe, although sharing the same civilisation and values, live under two different legal systems. The chronological coverage extends from the Germanic invasion in the early Middle Ages to the present day, incorporating analysis of the medieval Roman and canon law (both products of the law schools), and that of the School of Natural Law which inspired the great national codifications of the modern age. Professor van Caenegem evaluates the role of the lawgivers - emperors, kings and parliaments - and that of the judges, particularly, of course, in the lands of the English common law. He deals with the great phases of legal development and the main bodies of doctrine and legislation (rather than offer an analysis of the legal norms themselves); with substantive private law - family and status, property, contract, inheritance, trade - and with the organisation of the courts and the forms of process. An Historical Introduction to Private Law is based on both an extensive secondary literature in several languages, and on evidence accumulated by Professor van Caenegem over the past forty years.

In this book one of the world's foremost legal historians attempts to explain what produced the private law of the western world as we know it today. Professor van Caenegem pays particular attention to the origins of the common law - civil law dichotomy, and how it arose that England and the continent of Europe, although sharing the same civilisation and values, live under two different legal systems. The chronological coverage extends from the Germanic invasion in the early Middle Ages to the present day, incorporating analysis of the medieval Roman and canon law (both products of the law schools), and that of the School of Natural Law which inspired the great national codifications of the modern age. Professor van Caenegem evaluates the role of the lawgivers - emperors, kings and parliaments - and that of the judges, particularly, of course, in the lands of the English common law. He deals with the great phases of legal development and the main bodies of doctrine and legislation (rather than offer an analysis of the legal norms themselves); with substantive private law - family and status, property, contract, inheritance, trade - and with the organisation of the courts and the forms of process. An Historical Introduction to Private Law is based on both an extensive secondary literature in several languages, and on evidence accumulated by Professor van Caenegem over the past forty years.

In Judges, legislators and professors one of the world's foremost legal historians shows how and why continental and common law have come to diverge so sharply. Using ten specific examples he investigates the development of European law, not as the manifestation of certain ideological and intellectual trends, but as largely the result of power struggles between the judiciary, the legislators, and legal scholars, each representing certain political and social ambitions. Now available in paperback, Judges, legislators and professors provides an historical introduction to continental law which is readily accessible to readers familiar with the common law tradition and vice-versa.

The constitutional question is of paramount importance in the political and nationalist agenda of late twentieth-century Europe. Professor van Caenegem''s new book addresses fundamental questions of constitutional organisation: democracy versus autocracy, unitary versus federal organisation, pluralism versus intolerance, by analysing different models of constitutional government through an historical perspective. The approach is chronological: constitutionalism is explained as the result of many centuries of trial and error through a narrative which begins in the early Middle Ages and concludes with contemporary debates, focusing on Europe, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Special attention is devoted to the rise of the rule of law, and of constitutional, parliamentary, and federal forms of government. The epilogue discusses the future of liberal democracy as a universal model.