This series ambitiously offers a cultural history of more than 2,000 years of Western law. It does not seek to provide encyclopaedic coverage of its broad subject; the aim is rather to offer illustrative glimpses (supported by considerable archival research) of the various ways in which the law has influenced and been influenced by culture. Its 57 contributors thus explore an eclectic array of legal events and cultural artefacts, ranging from hyper-local and relatively obscure cases to broadly significant legal events that will already be very familiar to students of legal history. Each of the six relatively slim volumes examines a different historical period: Volume 1, ed. Julen Etxabe – Antiquity (2500 BCE–500 CE); Volume 2, ed. Emanuele Conte and Laurent Mayali – The Middle Ages (500–1500); Volume 3, ed. Peter Goodrich – The Early Modern Age (1500–1680); Volume 4, ed. Rebecca Probert and John Snape – The Age of Enlightenment (1680–1820); Volume 5, ed. Ian Ward – The Age of Reform (1820–1920); and Volume 6, ed. Richard K. Sherwin and Danielle Celermajer – The Modern Age (1920–present). The cultural history of law set out in each of these volumes is presented via the same eight chapter-length themes: ‘Justice’, ‘Constitution’, ‘Codes’, ‘Agreements’, ‘Arguments’, ‘Property and Possession’, ‘Wrongs’, and ‘The Legal Profession’. Themes are at times given a more particular focus by a subtitle, but the general plan and emphasis of each volume is almost identical. This thematic rigidity must have been a difficult editorial choice, given the challenge of plausibly tracing concepts like ‘The Legal Profession’ back through three millennia and across a range of cultures; its effect is to lend a coherence to the whole project, and to encourage the reading of the six volumes as a united series. Affinities, parallels and unexpected connections emerge to reward such

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书评

该系列雄心勃勃地提供了 2,000 多年西方法律的文化历史。它并不寻求对其广泛主题提供百科全书式的覆盖；其目的是提供有关法律影响和受文化影响的各种方式的说明性一瞥（得到大量档案研究的支持）。因此，它的 57 位撰稿人探索了一系列不拘一格的法律事件和文化文物，从超地方性和相对晦涩的案件到法律史学生已经非常熟悉的广泛重要的法律事件。六个相对较小的卷中的每一卷都考察了一个不同的历史时期：第 1 卷，编辑。Julen Etxabe – 古代（公元前 2500 年至公元 500 年）；第 2 卷，编辑。Emanuele Conte 和 Laurent Mayali – 中世纪（500-1500）；第 3 卷，编辑。彼得·古德里奇——现代早期（1500-1680）；第 4 卷，编辑。丽贝卡·普罗伯特 (Rebecca Probert) 和约翰·斯内普 (John Snape) – 启蒙时代 (1680–1820)；第 5 卷，编辑。伊恩·沃德——改革时代（1820-1920）；和第 6 卷，编辑。Richard K. Sherwin 和 Danielle Celermajer——现代时代（1920 年至今）。每一卷中阐述的法律文化史都通过相同的八个章节长度的主题来呈现：“正义”、“宪法”、“法典”、“协议”、“争论”、“财产和占有”、“错误”和“法律职业”。主题有时会通过副标题给予更特别的关注，但每卷的总体计划和重点几乎相同。这种主题僵化一定是一个艰难的编辑选择，鉴于将“法律职业”等概念合理追溯至三千年并跨越各种文化的挑战；它的作用是为整个项目提供连贯性，并鼓励将六卷作为一个统一的系列阅读。相似之处、相似之处和意想不到的联系出现来奖励这样的人