What do you think?
Rate this book
A History of Law in Europe: From the Early Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century
With its roots in ancient Greece, Roman law and Christianity, European legal history is the history of a common civilisation. The exchange of legislative models, doctrines and customs within Europe included English common law and has been extensive from the early middle ages to the present time. In this seminal work which spans from the fifth to the twentieth century, Antonio Padoa-Schioppa explores how law was brought to life in the six main phases of European legal history. By analysing a selection of the institutions of private and public law which are most representative of each phase and of each country, he also sheds light on the common features throughout the history of European legal culture. Translated in English for the first time, this new edition has been revised to include the recent developments of the European Union and the legal-historical works of the last decade.
ebook
Published July 26, 2017
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 11, 2026
The 1-star review is not for the book itself, but for the paperback English translation.
It is the worst translation I have ever seen.
The entire text reads like a clumsy, word-for-word translation from Italian, or the output of a very primitive translation program. In addition to nearly every sentence sounding unnatural (though Italian admittedly has distinct stylistic and flow challenges in English translation), the text is plagued by a whole gamut of infelicities and glaring, often comical errors.
For example:
"Disciplina normativa", a very common Italian legal term meaning roughly "regulatory framework" or "legal framework", is translated literally as "normative discipline".
The ambiguous Italian term "diritto" (meaning both "right" and "law") is constantly mistranslated throughout the text by mixing up "right" and "law".
And a personal favorite: translating "azione reale" in the context of property law, that is, actio in rem, as "royal action". That is: "... no freeman can make himself ‘man of another man’, so as to become the subject of a real right defensible by royal action, ...".
In short, I find it hard to believe this text was ever proofread, let alone reviewed by someone with even basic legal training. The quality is well below what one expects from Cambridge University Press.
It is the worst translation I have ever seen.
The entire text reads like a clumsy, word-for-word translation from Italian, or the output of a very primitive translation program. In addition to nearly every sentence sounding unnatural (though Italian admittedly has distinct stylistic and flow challenges in English translation), the text is plagued by a whole gamut of infelicities and glaring, often comical errors.
For example:
"Disciplina normativa", a very common Italian legal term meaning roughly "regulatory framework" or "legal framework", is translated literally as "normative discipline".
The ambiguous Italian term "diritto" (meaning both "right" and "law") is constantly mistranslated throughout the text by mixing up "right" and "law".
And a personal favorite: translating "azione reale" in the context of property law, that is, actio in rem, as "royal action". That is: "... no freeman can make himself ‘man of another man’, so as to become the subject of a real right defensible by royal action, ...".
In short, I find it hard to believe this text was ever proofread, let alone reviewed by someone with even basic legal training. The quality is well below what one expects from Cambridge University Press.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review