Roman Law in European History

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 148 pages
• Published by: Cambridge University Press May 28, 1999
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0521643791
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0521643795
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Weighs: 6.4 ounces

Product Review
"Fact-filled as this book is, with its myriad names, dates and book titles, the author never allows the reader to lose sight of the trends, tensions, and debates that shped the use of Roman law down through the centuries, ending with the civil codes of the modern European nation states. This is a welcome treatment and guide to its subject." The Classical Bulletin

"In Roman Law in European History, a master gives his readers both an introduction to the law of ancient Rome and an account of how that law lives on, well after the demise of the ancient society." David V. Snyder, H-Net Reviews

"immensely useful and pleasurable reading. The entire book will be welcome across many disciplines, but especially to historians and those interested in European culture and its reception of the classical tradition." Religious Studies Review

Product Description
Roman law has had a huge impact on European legal and political thought. Peter Stein, one of the world's leading legal historians, explains in this masterly short study how this came to be. He assesses the impact of Roman law in the ancient world, and its continued unifying influence throughout medieval and modern Europe. Roman Law in European History is unparalleled in depth, lucidity and authority, and should prove of enormous utility for teachers and students (at all levels) of legal history, comparative law and European Studies.

Reader Reviews
Stein is an obvious expert on the subject matter and explained things deftly but briefly. He covered 2500 years of very eventful, complicated, and important intellectual, political, and legal history and millions of pages of primary material in 137 pages. It should be obvious that such a book can at best be only a primer and at worst only confusing. I found the book to be a lot of both. The book is fascinating in what it tells and its brevity whets one's appetite for more. There are extensive suggestions for further reading. However, the myriad of names, terms, and dates is simply too much even for a primer. Stein cannot avoid mentioning this or that minor figure or anonymous text. I imagine the idea of such a brief introduction to such an immense subject is to gain a wide audience and give the student a quick and shallow overview. That is a laudable idea, but 137 pages is just not enough. The book's impact is seriously weakened by too much that is only mentioned without proper explanation. Confusion results from such a wave of names and dates with too little to help one appreciate them. The book's size should at least be doubled. The subject simply cannot be properly dealt with in so little space.