Nils Jansen
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199588763
- eISBN:
- 9780191723315
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588763.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
Accounts of the nature of legal authority typically focus on the authority of officially sanctioned rules issued by legally recognised bodies — legislatures, courts, and regulators — that fit ...
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Accounts of the nature of legal authority typically focus on the authority of officially sanctioned rules issued by legally recognised bodies — legislatures, courts, and regulators — that fit comfortably within traditional state-centred concepts of law. Such accounts neglect the more complex processes involved in acquiring legal authority. Throughout the history of modern legal systems, texts have come to acquire authority for legal officials without being issued by a legislature or a court. From Justinian's Institutes and Blackstone's Commentaries, to modern examples such as the American Law Institute's Restatements and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, academic codifications have come to be seen as legally authoritative, and their norms applied as such in courts and other contexts. How have such texts acquired legal authority? Does their authority undermine the orthodox accounts of the nature of legal systems? Drawing on examples from Roman law to the present day, this book offers a comparative analysis of non-legislative codifications. It offers a contribution to the debates surrounding the harmonisation of European private law, and the growth of international law.Less
Accounts of the nature of legal authority typically focus on the authority of officially sanctioned rules issued by legally recognised bodies — legislatures, courts, and regulators — that fit comfortably within traditional state-centred concepts of law. Such accounts neglect the more complex processes involved in acquiring legal authority. Throughout the history of modern legal systems, texts have come to acquire authority for legal officials without being issued by a legislature or a court. From Justinian's Institutes and Blackstone's Commentaries, to modern examples such as the American Law Institute's Restatements and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, academic codifications have come to be seen as legally authoritative, and their norms applied as such in courts and other contexts. How have such texts acquired legal authority? Does their authority undermine the orthodox accounts of the nature of legal systems? Drawing on examples from Roman law to the present day, this book offers a comparative analysis of non-legislative codifications. It offers a contribution to the debates surrounding the harmonisation of European private law, and the growth of international law.
John W Cairns
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748682096
- eISBN:
- 9781474415989
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748682096.003.0016
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History
This chapter assesses the work of Sir Robert Chambers by comparing it with that of other professors of English law. It focuses on the analytical structure Chambers gave to English law. The first part ...
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This chapter assesses the work of Sir Robert Chambers by comparing it with that of other professors of English law. It focuses on the analytical structure Chambers gave to English law. The first part briefly discusses the early history of university lectures and, in particular, the adoption of the structure of Justinian’s Institutes. This is followed by an account of the problems encountered by professors of English law in setting forth their subject, and of the solutions they adopted. The third section provides a detailed analysis of the structure Chambers used for his lectures in comparison with that used by Blackstone. This is followed by some general conclusions and observations.Less
This chapter assesses the work of Sir Robert Chambers by comparing it with that of other professors of English law. It focuses on the analytical structure Chambers gave to English law. The first part briefly discusses the early history of university lectures and, in particular, the adoption of the structure of Justinian’s Institutes. This is followed by an account of the problems encountered by professors of English law in setting forth their subject, and of the solutions they adopted. The third section provides a detailed analysis of the structure Chambers used for his lectures in comparison with that used by Blackstone. This is followed by some general conclusions and observations.
