A Cultural History of Law in the Middle Ages

How have legal ideas and institutions affected Western culture ? And how has the law itself been shaped by its cultural context ? 

In a work spanning 4,500 years, these questions are addressed by 57 experts, each contributing an authoritative study of a theme applied to a period in history. Supported by detailed case material and over 230 illustrations, the volumes examine trends and nuances of the culture of law in Western societies from antiquity to the present. Individual volume editors ensure the cohesion of the whole, and to make it as easy as possible to use, chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. 

The six volumes cover : 1 - Antiquity (2500 BCE-500 CE) ; 2 - Middle Ages (500-1500) ; 3 - Early Modern Age (1500-1680) ; 4 - Age of Enlightenment (1680-1820) ; 5 - Age of Reform (1820-1920) ; 6 - Modern Age (1920-present). 

Themes (and chapter titles) are: Justice ; Constitution; Codes; Agreements ; Arguments ; Property and Possession; Wrongs ; and the Legal Profession. 

The total page extent for the pack is approximately 1200 pages. Each volume opens with a Series Preface, an Introduction and Notes on Contributors and concludes with Notes, Bibliography and an Index.

The Volume 2 (A Cultural History of Law in the Middle Ages) is edited by Emanuele Conte (Roma Tre University, Italy and EHESS, Paris, France) and Laurent Mayali (University of California at Berkeley, USA).