After accepting the kind offer of Jacques Le Goff and the publisher to compile the volume in the Making of Europe series dedicated to legal history, I found myself faced with an unenviable task. I shall attempt here to sketch the outline of a historical and juridical narrative that spreads over more than fifteen centuries and the entire European continent, whilst following this series’ habitual combination of unstinting intellectual rigour with an equally unstinting accessibility of discussion. I must therefore scrupulously avoid the comfortable recourse of closed scholarly debate, and instead make it a priority to communicate with those outside the limited circle of experts.

Кл.слова:
юриспруденція -- законодавство