Ius Commune – A European Common Past?

The historic ius commune - a body of legal rules and principles based on the re-interpretation of Roman law, beginning in the High Middle Ages - has frequently been invoked as a lodestar in the current debate on the harmonization of the legal orders of the member states of the EU.

Particularly the Continental Civil law is often portrayed as homogenous, rooted in a common Roman law past. However, the legal history of Europe must not be simplified - the Civil law tradition is not a simple genealogical trajectory from Roman law to the modern Civil law codifications. Roman law had to be adapted to new worlds; it merged - and clashed - with local laws and customs.

Four renowned legal historians, presenting some of their recent work, will address different aspects of this complex process:

• The "reception" of Roman law as a process of adopting forms while re-interpreting or re-inventing substance;
• Common Laws and Local Customs: Adoption, Adaptation and Juristic Practice in Medieval France;
• Ius commune, Canon and local laws in England: The law of sanctuary in Medieval England;
• The development of Civil law thought: Ideas of patrimony in 19th century France and their repercussions in Quebec.

Schedule

2:00 - 3:15 pm: "Legal Pluralism" in European History

• Shannon McSheffrey, Professor, Dept of History, Concordia:
  The Law of Sanctuary in Medieval England
• Ada-Maria Kuskowski, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, McGill / Dept of History, Cornell: Common Laws and Local Customs: Adoption, Adaptation and Juristic Practice in Medieval France

3:15 - 3:30 pm: Coffee Break
3:30 - 5:00 pm: Histories of Legal Ideas

• Martin J. Schermaier, Professor, Inst. of Roman Law & Comparative Legal History, Bonn: Some Thoughts on the "Reception" of Roman Law in Europe
• Eric H. Reiter, Professor, Dept of History, Concordia: The Early History of the Patrimony from France to Quebec

Organized by the McGill Faculty of Law - in cooperation with the EU Centre of Excellence Montreal, the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas, and the Wainwright Fund.