The Creation of the Ius Commune: From Casus to Regula

Edited by John W. Cairns and Paul J. du Plessis

This book concerns the transformation of Roman legal rules into the "common law" of Western Europe between 1100 and 1400. In the space of three centuries these rules, collected in the sixth-century compilation executed under the order of Emperor Justinian, were comprehensively interpreted and transformed by several generations of medieval Italian and French jurists into what became the bedrock of Western European law. In these chapters, a number of distinguished scholars survey traditional classifications of private law in order to establish the cognitive techniques used to transform Roman law into the ius commune of Western Europe.

Related Subjects

• European History

About the Author

John W. Cairns is professor of legal history at the University of Edinburgh. Paul J. du Plessis is lecturer in Law at the University of Edinburgh.

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