As Europe moves towards economic and political unification, many wonder why legal unification makes so little headway. In this concise but wide-ranging book, R. C. van Caenegem considers the historical reasons behind this legal diversity. He stresses the importance of the adoption on the Continent - but not in England - of the classical law of the Romans, and shows how the rise of the nation states led to a multitude of national codes of law. The impact of politics on legal development is another key factor, and as a graphic example van Caenegem provides a detailed account of how the German past was extolled in Nazi Germangy.
The book concludes with a consideration of the ongoing debate on the desirability - indeed, on the possibility - of European legal unification and of a federal constitution for a united Europe.
R. C. van Caenegem is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Law and the the Faculty of Letters, University of Ghent. His many publications include "The birth of the English common law" (1973; second edition 1988), "Judges, legislators, and professors" (1987), "An historical introduction to private law" (English language edition 1992) and "An historical introduction to western constitutional law" (1995).