Custom - The Development and Use of a Legal Concept in the Middle Ages: Proceedings of the Fifth Carlsberg Academy Conference on Medieval Legal History 2008

This volume contains the proceedings from the conference "Custom — The Development and Use of a Legal Concept in the Middle Ages" held at the Law School of the University of Aarhus in May 2008. The book covers topics from local case studies and studies of learned law to broader reflections on the development and use of the legal concept consuetudo and its connection with other sources of law, with the balance between local and regional power structures, and within secular and ecclesiastical societies in medieval Europe. Combining the approaches of several historical disciplines — political, social, intellectual, and legal — eminent international scholars offer their views on central aspects of the function of legal customs and of the development of one of the most debated concepts in legal historiography of the last century. The essays provide a useful contribution to the continuing discussion about the development of European law, legal principles, and notions of justice.