Legal History from a European Perspective

On the differences between the two streams of the German Historical School: the Pandectists and the Germanists. The example of possession: the Roman concept and Albrecht's German alternative to it, the Gewere.

The other stream of the Historical School: the Germanists and their focus on ancient German law. The parallel between the search for original legal ideas and the one for German literature: the task of the brothers Grimm. The importance of community in German tradition.

A presentation of the nineteenth-century German model: the impossibility to adopt a generally shared codification, Savigny’s claim for the supremacy of the “Volksgeist”, the adoption of Roman institutes of private law by the Germans and the new stream of “Pandectists”.

The situation in the United States of America analysed by Alexis de Tocqueville, the influence of France model in Europe and the new-born “Historical School” in Germany.

This podcast analyses how France has been a model for the whole Europe. Spain, Portugal, Italy, later Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland: all adopted the model of a similar codification.

Napoleon’s reform of legal studies: the study of the Civil Code in schools. The birth of the École de l’Exégèse and the triumph and the defeat of the Code: the abrogation of other concurrent sources but the need for a doctrinal interpretation. Other Codes issued by Napoleon in the first years of 19th century.

This episode explains how the French Civil Code had the ambition to reduce the role of the judge to a passive force, a "mere mouth of the law", and how this attempt was doomed to fail. 

The Code Napoleon: was it clear, rational and straightforward as it was meant to be? What differentiates it from other codes? What significant innovations did it accomplish?

This episode analyses the connection between absolutism and codification, presenting the Tuscan Criminal Code and the Prussian Civil Code as examples of a power strong enough to impose a new codification to the nation without a revolution.

This podcast deals with the wars in Europe during the 19th century. It is mainly focused on French military history during the Napoleonic wars and the strength of Napoleon’s army.

In this podcast Kim Thao Le deals with the the so-called "intermediary law", developed in France between the 1789 Revolution and Napoleon's Civil

Code of 1804 and based on revolutionary ideas.

Kim Thao Le explains how the Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution. She offers an analysis of the Ancién Regime and how the events of this period led to the Revolution.

Kim Tao Le introduces the Enlightenment, analysing its most important ideas and presenting the figures of Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau.

Emanuele Conte and Andrew Cecchinato discuss about revolutions, comparing the American and French ones and analysing some of their peculiar aspects, like the influence of Enlightenment and their ideas of economy.

The American Constitution represented a model for later claims of independence, and was followed by many other countries, including Italy.

The American Constitution issued in 1787, based on Enlightenment ideals, introduced the separation of powers and the idea of the superiority of the written Constitution over any other law, but showed the contradiction between principle of equality and the reality of slavery.

In this episode, Andrew Cecchinato examines some of the ideas behind the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. In particular, he focuses on Jefferson's thoughts on tyranny and how these were influenced by the medieval European tradition.

The Declaration of Independence of 1776 draft by Thomas Jefferson and its key principles. The episode argues that, contrary to European countries, American identity was not based on a common historical tradition, but on a shared set of values and beliefs.

This podcast examines the role of the Enlightenment and of the British Common law on American revolutionary ideals, focusing respectively on the idea of individual rights and on the influcence of English Parliamentarism.

This episode introduces America as a great laboratory where European ideas were tested in an exterior space, framing the situation in North America at the dawn of the revolution, with a focus on slavery and the figure of Thomas Paine.

This episode analyses early-modern Common law as a system of customary laws, the role of English local courts and the beginning of English constitutionalism.

This episodes puts into connection the rise of national states in the early Modern era and the national codifications of customary law.

This podcast goes through the history of legal customs, from the Middle Ages to the early modern era, focusing especially on the relationship between customary law and royal legislation, and the role of customs in the Protestant mentality.

This podcast introduces the figure of François Hotman, a French legal humanist and calvinist, presenting his main works: the "Antitribonian", a strong criticism of Justinian's codification, and "Franco-Gallia", where he introduced a new idea of the relationship between the people, the king and the national legislation.

This episode examines the Protestant reformation, its main points and the subsequent crisis of traditional legal norms. It also mentions Max Weber's theory on the role of the reformation for the birth of capitalism.

In this podcast, Piotr Gorecki introduces the Reichskammergericht, the new central court created in 1495 by emperor Maximilian I, and the so-called “reception of Roman law” in the Holy Roman Empire.

Much more open to innovations brought by humanists, the sixteenth-century French legal culture played an essential role in shaping law. After introducing its historical context, this podcast examines the new French method and its consequences.

This podcast introduces Humanism, an intellectual movement focused on the reconstruction of classical literature, and presents its most relevant figures of this age, such as Lorenzo Valla, Angelo Poliziano and Andrea Alciato. Subsequently, it explains how legal humanists turned Roman law into a model.

An introduction to the Modern Age: a period started in the 15th century, in which intellectuals felt enlightened. This podcast also provides a list of topics that contributed to shaping European civilisation.

This podcast deals with the transformation of the political reality in the highest institutions during the Middle Ages and the early modern era; it depicts the changing mutual relations of the Church, the Empire and the national kingdoms.

This podcast focuses on the Holy Roman Empire and its laws. It provides an overview of the sources of law and presents four phenomena that can be attributed to the law in this area. It also distinguishes the position of the king and the emperor from the other contemporary European kingdoms.

In this podcast, Piotr Gorecki explains that law in medieval Eastern and Central Europe was mainly customary. He analyses the origin of the word “custom”, how it was used at the time, and the concept of “Ius Teutonicum”.

This podcasts delves more into the similarities between Common law and Civil law in the high Middle Ages, by challenging the conventional narratives according to which the English system was strongly tied to institutions, while the Continental one to intellectual development.

This podcasts questions whether Common law was really that different from the law of Continental Europe in the High Middle Ages. It analyses some seemingly diverging points, such as the usage of writs and trials by jury, and depicts the overlooked similarities. It argues that the differences between the two systems originated rather in their subsequent development.

In this episode, Will Eves examines the birth of statutes in England, giving a chronology of the legislative practices from Anglo-Saxon times to the 15th century.

This podcast tries to challenge the conventional narrative of Common law as a purely jurisprudential system, highlighting the influence of royal legislation and introducing the role of the Parliament in the legislative process.

In this podcast, William Eves introduces equity as a body of law developing alongside Common law. He explains the origin of equity, its development until the modern times, and the reasoning behind it, introducing the Court of Chancery and providing examples of new legal institutes that can be attributed to equitable decision-making.

John Hudson presents the Magna Carta, the most famous of English constitutional documents, issued after the rebellion of the English aristocracy against King John. He explains the dichotomic approach of this charter to royal justice and its ideological importance.

This podcast deals with the strong opposition that English kings had to face during their reign because of their attempt to secure a strong royal jurisdiction: Henry II's struggles and his fight with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, because of the Constitutions of Clarendon.

This podcast describes the fundamental role of procedure in English Common law and the birth of judiciary abstraction, with a comparison between British and Continental European historiographical theories on the topic.

This podcast deals with the birth of writs and the growth of English royal jurisdiction, with the possibility for litigants to submit their disputes to either a local or a royal judge.

John Hudson investigates the essence of the Angevin reforms: what was Henry II's main concern? What new procedures did this reformation bring? What influence did this reform have on legal education? This podcast will adequately answer these questions, explaining how these changes created a more sophisticated form of law.

In this podcast, John Hudson talks about the restoration of a royal authority by Henry II and his will of providing peace and justice, the Assizes of Clarendon, the routinization of justice with the Assize of Northampton, and the methods of royal justice.

John Hudson explains the efforts to limit violence made by the Anglo-Saxon kings during the 10th century. By doing so, he presents two different types of courts that emerged in that period, and discusses the tradition of written legislation.

A description of Europe's situation and Kingdoms in 1110: the Empire, the Church, the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Sicily.

Attilio Stella describes the situation of legal pluralism in Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries. He talks about the twofold relationship between the Ius commune and local statues and explains how Northern Italy was an example of pluralism.

This podcast presents Francesco Calasso's idea of the ius commune as a framework for many coexisting legal orders, introducing the concept of legal pluralism and the distinction between ius commune and ius proprium.

By making examples, like the theories on legal personality, this podcast introduces the prolific age of the “ius commune”, based on Roman law, canon law and feudal law.

This episode deals with the emergence of an intellectual environment to study and teach: the birth of the universities during the 12th century, and the study of Roman law as a bridge trough which laymen could become intellectuals, a position reserved to clerics until then.

A discussion over the fief, its introduction, changes and how it has been possible that a local custom was adopted as a general rule amongst all Europe.