BOOK: European Traditions: Integration or Disintegration ? (J. Oosterhuis & E.D.G. Van Dongen, eds., Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishing, 2013)

The Acta of the 17th European Forum of Young Legal Historians, held in Maastricht in April 2011, are out. Janwillem Oosterhuis and Emmanuel Van Dongen compiled contributions from Tomislav Karlovic, Henrik-Riko Held, Dave De ruysscher, Valerio Massimo Minale, Paulina Swiecicka, Augustin Parise, Merike Ristekivi, Stefan Weishaar, Tamas Notari, Paulo Potiara de Alcantara Veloso, Frederik Dhondt, Raymond Kubben, Christoph Schmetterer, Diego Nunes, Laszlo Komaromi and Gabor Batho.

In the editors' words:

"European legal traditions can be characterised as a continuous balancing act of two seemingly contradictory forces: centralisation and de-centralisation. On the one hand, Justinian’s Corpus iuris, the medieval ius commune of Roman and Canon law, the usus modernus pandectarum, and the current European harmonisation efforts all have a centralizing  or  rather  an  integrative  quality  about  them.  While the ius proprium, including the English Common law, and particularly the national codifications of the 19th century, as well as the study of these laws, exhibit more diverse, decentralizing forces within European legal traditions.

This  volume  shows  how  comparative  legal  history  can be  used  as  a  tool  to  analyse  similarities  and  differences between legal systems. It aims to provide a deeper understanding of common strands in law shared by European countries,  in  particular  those  (i)  at  a  substantive  level, through shared legal ideas and principles such as clausula rebus sic stantibus, unjustified enrichment, cessio bonorum,  subsidiarity  or  popular  sovereignty;  (ii)  at  a  formal level, through a common legal language; and created (iii) by scholarly networks and (iv) appellate courts.

Above all, these contributions – though eclectic in their subject matter, time period and methodology – all reflect from a historical perspective on the fascinating, diverse European legal traditions."

The book counts 256 pages and can be ordered with Wolf Legal Publishers for € 24,95.

A flyer can be found here.