BOOK REVIEW: Julian SWANN on Custom, Law, and Monarchy. A Legal History of Early Modern France By Marie Seong-Hak Kim (French History XXXVII (2023), Nr. 2, 203-204)

(image source: OUP)
 

Julian Swann reviewed Custom, Law, and Monarchy. A Legal History of Early Modern France by Marie Seong-Hak Kim (OUP, 2021).

Extract:

As students of medieval and early modern France are usually quick to learn, the legal and administrative structure of the monarchy was bewilderingly complex. To assume that there was a simple dichotomy separating provinces into those where either Roman or customary law prevailed was deceptive in the sense that it suggests a degree of cohesion and consistency that was belied by the reality on the ground.

Read more with OUP (DOI 10.1093/fh/crad021).