Legal History from a European Perspective

By Emanuele Conte

A series of academic podcasts for students. Feel free to write to [email protected] for slides and more additional material... more

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FAQs about Legal History from a European Perspective:

How many episodes does Legal History from a European Perspective have?

The podcast currently has 65 episodes available.

Legal History from a European Perspective episodes:

January 17, 2021LH0061: The Roman Background
Goethe’s image of Roman Law as a « diving duck » that sink and always resurfaces (p. 14)

Key sentence: «translate everyday life into legal formulations» (p. 14). This is the peculiar invention of the Roman legal system.

What exactly did reappear? Herzog says: a technique of legal abstractions. This is the main character of the complex construction of Roman Law. Example: the legal presumptions as a technique to construct an artificial reality.

To understand this construction we must look at the trial. It changed deeply over time, but it kept the key feature of being based on a set of abstract concepts suitable for describing reality in legal terms.
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10min
January 17, 2021LH0060: Let Us Start from the Beginning
We will refer to Herzog’s book, but:

We will add some important points.

We will point at some passages we can disagree with.

We will stress the moments of change

We will try to be accurate in historical analysis and in considering the technical legal issues.
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4min
January 17, 2021LH0050: Legal History as a Self-Analysis of the Western Mentality
Whitman: the World Historical Significance of European Legal History.
Max Weber and the peculiarity of the western capitalism.

Legal History can tell the story of the meaning of legal institutions in shaping the societies of Europe and the West.

This story marks the western way of dealing with the relationship of each of us with the power

As in every story, in the history of law things happen.

Historical happenings do not determine directly a change of the legal institutions, because institutions are purely abstract concepts. Things happen to the humans, and the humans create, modify or extinguish the legal institutions.

This course will be an attempt to tell this story.
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6min
January 17, 2021LH0040: Is our Legal History different from the one of the 19th/20th Century?
Some features of the traditional legal history which do not fit with our contemporary beliefs.
Nationalism: the identity of the European nations was based on history, and in particular on the history of institutions and laws.

Evolutionism: the legal institutions themselves were the subjects of the traditional narratives. They were (and ofter still are) considered as if they were biological organisms, evolving through time.

Progress: the legal system of a nation was described as positively evolving towards the present days.

Resistance to the idea of revolutionary changes: legal institutions were described as always connected to their origins. Evolution was often meant as the opposite of revolution.
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12min
January 17, 2021LH0020 and LH0030: Why do we study Legal History?
The foundation of the present legal education has been in 19th Century Germany.
The German Historical School.
Savigny to Windscheid and to Gierke.

«The whole science/knowledge of the law is nothing else than legal history» (Savigny).

Private law is Roman Law.

Public law, administrative law, business law and more has «German roots».

Criticisms: things did not go that way.
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17min

FAQs about Legal History from a European Perspective:

How many episodes does Legal History from a European Perspective have?

The podcast currently has 65 episodes available.