HomeUnitext for Freshmen: Legal History and Traditions
Unitext for Freshmen: Legal History and Traditions
Editor: Theodore Lee
Year:
Binding: HARDBACK
Price: £ 300.00
"The field of “legal history” studies the relationship that “law” and legal institutions have to the society that surrounds them. “Law” means everything from local regulations and rules promulgated by administrative agencies, to statutes and court decisions. Legal history is interested in how “law” and legal institutions operate and how they change over time in reaction to changing economic, social, and political conditions. It looks at people who are “governed” by law, as well as how those people try to influence law and legal actors. Among certain jurists and historians of legal process it has been seen as the recording of the evolution of laws and the technical explanation of how these laws have evolved with the view of better understanding the origins of various legal concepts, some consider it as a branch of intellectual history. Twentieth century historians have viewed legal history in a more contextualized manner more in line with the thinking of social historians. They have looked at legal institutions as complex systems of rules, players and symbols and have seen these elements interact with society to change, adapt, resist or promote certain aspects of civil society. Such legal historians have tended to analyze case histories from the parameters of social science inquiry, using statistical methods, analyzing class distinctions among litigants, petitioners and other players in various legal processes.
A legal historian should adopt an interdisciplinary approach to the subject; which means, a legal historian should be informed by economics, political science, sociology and other relevant social sciences. This is so because a legal system of any country cannot be fully appreciated if it is considered independently. Religion affects a legal system; politics affects it and so are economic institutions of that country.
This book is a critical survey of the major past and present legal traditions of the world. The book is designed for students drawn to interdisciplinary study of legal and cultural issues. It offers students an interdisciplinary education in legal institutions, languages and processes that are central to social, cultural and political developments in the past and present, and play a critical role in shaping our most basic concepts and categories of thought and identity. Legal history is defined; the importance of legal history is outlined; the problems linked to the study of legal history are described; the idea of legal system as well as legal tradition is discussed. Students will gain theoretical and analytical perspectives on ethical, political and social issues relevant to law as they explore specific legal issues from a humanistic perspective. The book emphasizes the significance of understanding past legal systems for an enhanced appreciation of present legal orders. It seeks to direct the attention of students to the co-existence of multiple legal orders in multiethnic countries. The book also seeks to stimulate students to be appreciative of and sensitive to diverse legal traditions."
"Preface
Chapter 1 Preliminary Considerations
1.1. Explaining Some Notions
1.2. Classification of Legal Systems
1.3. Legal Tradition
1.4. Legal Transplantation
Chapter 2 Ancient Legal Systems
2.1 The Babylonian Legal System
2.2 The Greek Legal System
2.3 The Roman Legal System
2.4 Meaning of Roman Law
2.5 The Transformation of the Digest and Canon law
2.6 Glossators and Commentators
2.7 Revival of Roman Law
2.8 The Attributes of Law in the Early Legal Systems
Chapter 3 Major Legal Traditions of the World
3.1 The French Legal System
3.2 The German Legal System
3.3 The British Legal System
3.4 The American Legal System
3.5 Civil Law And Common Law Contrasted
3.6 The Socialist Legal Tradition
3.7 The Islamic Legal Tradition
3.8 The African Legal Traditions
3.9 Legal Convergence And Divergence
Chapter 4 Aspects of the Ethiopian Legal System
4.1 Conceptions of law in Ethiopia
4.2 Legal source and background of the six codes
4.3 The Development of the Ethiopian Penal Law
4.4 The Judicial system of Ethiopia
4.5 Constitutional development in Ethiopia
Index"
Theodore Lee served as a Professor of Law at the School of Law and Politics Public University, Leeds. His research interrogates the interaction between law and the humanities with particular expertise in Law and Religion and Legal History. As a trained lawyer and scholar, Lee dedicated his academic career to legal traditions focusing on the western tradition. He publishes books and scholarly articles by high standard international publishers and journals across the globe.
