Judges, Legislators, and Law Professors – A Chapter in the History of European Law

Author: (British) R. C. van Caenegem
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The small book before you is a compilation of a series of lectures given at Cambridge during the academic year 1984–1985 while I held the Chair of Comparative Law. These lectures were part of the Master of Laws program at the Faculty of Law and were delivered to graduate students in law. Since the content was aimed at students, this book does not claim to be an in-depth academic work. Moreover, the fact that the audience consisted of graduate students in law means that I could raise some complex issues in the history of European law that may not have been thoroughly explored in any academic circles. This fact also implies that I could assume a certain level of familiarity with legal history on the part of my audience, making our course less of a dry monologue and more of an engaging exchange between teacher and students. The questions raised in this book were initially inspired by the doubts raised by students. Given that my audience came from all over the world—beyond the European continent, there were also students from Great Britain and the United States—I sometimes had to explain certain background knowledge or even introductory material on the history of civil law to those who grew up in a common law environment, and vice versa. A course on the history of European law, which covers both the common law system of England and the civil law system of the continent, naturally has to consider the intermingling of these two legal families—on this point, I hope you will fully understand. If you find that the development of American law is occasionally mentioned in the book, do not be surprised: despite the vast Atlantic separating England and the United States, the fact that they share a common legal system naturally makes historians of English law take a keen interest in the "transplants" across the ocean. The motivation to publish these lecture notes first stemmed from the strong interest shown by several colleagues at Cambridge in the content of the lectures. Second, I was inspired by the example of a predecessor in the Goodhart Chair, Professor John N. Hazard, who compiled his lecture notes into a book titled Managing Change in the USSR and dedicated it to the Goodhart academic family, "as an encouragement for successors to also try their hand at writing a small book." The final impetus came when I learned that publishing the series of lecture notes was a heartfelt expectation of A. L. Goodhart for the holders of the Chair, which led to the publication of this book. The Chair of Comparative Law, dedicated to legal scholarship, was established at the University of Cambridge and named after Arthur Lehman Goodhart (d. 1978), who devoted his entire life to the study of law. Although an American citizen, he built a brilliant academic career in England. After graduating from Cambridge, he became one of the most outstanding legal scholars and professors of the century. In addition to other positions, he was a professor of legal philosophy at the University of Oxford and served as an editor of the Law Quarterly Review for decades. I believe that if he had seen these words and phrases, which adopt comparative and historical methods and navigate between the United States, the British Isles, and the continent, he would have felt a deep sense of connection—but I hope this confidence does not come across as reckless or presumptuous. Here, I extend my sincerest gratitude to Professor Peter Stein, holder of the Cambridge Chair of Comparative Law, who read the entire manuscript with great care and generously offered many valuable suggestions and comments. I also sincerely thank the masters and researchers of Peterhouse, whose warm hospitality made me feel at home during my time as a visiting researcher in 1984–1985. I would also like to express my warmest thanks to Dr. Daniel Lambrecht for his selfless help in compiling the index.
R. C. van Caenegem