European studies

RAFFAELLA MESSINETTI
MEILING HUANG

The course aims to provide an understanding of the historical, cultural, and socio-economic roots of the fundamental concepts and institutions of European law. It traces their Roman origins and follows their development within the civil and common law traditions. By reconstructing the key turning points in the history of legal thought, from the Roman era to modern and contemporary codifications, students will develop an awareness of the historicity of legal ideas and the role of law in societal cultural production, fostering in-depth analytical, interpretative, and critical thinking.

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The course highlights how Roman law’s tradition has contributed to the creation of modern European countries’ laws, from the Napoleonic Code of 1804 to other European civil codifications. According to this perspective, the principles regulating the fundamental areas of European private law are analyzed considering the historical, social, and economic context.

The student will choose one of the following books:

J. Gordley, Foundations of Private Law, Oxford 2007
T. Herzog, A Short History of European Law, Harvard University Press, 2018
A. Borkowski – P. du Plessis, Textbook on Roman Law, terza edizione, Oxford, 2020

The course will be in-person, and class attendance is not mandatory.

The final exam will consist of an individual oral interview. It will take about 20 minutes and consist of three questions on different items.
It will focus on the ability to frame the legal institutes in their historical context (to be done by following a systematic approach), logically making connections between concepts to answer the questions, and identifying practical examples from Roman legal sources.