Law and Society in European History

Catalog description

Overview of European legal history from the Roman Empire to the European Union. We will examine how the multitude of co-existing law systems in Europe shaped the daily life of people, their conflicts, communities, and spaces. We will cover important law systems like Roman Law, Canon Law, and Modern European Law to reach a basic understanding of the development of European legal pluralism throughout the past two thousand years. The historical legal systems we study in this class shape the social and legal realities of our present in both Europe and the US. While this class is particularly suited for pre-law students, no prior knowledge of legal history or law is needed.