Judges and judging in the history of the common law and civil law

"In this collection of essays, leading legal historians address significant topics in the history of judges and judging, with comparisons not only between British, American and Commonwealth experience, but also with the judiciary in civil law countries. It is not the law itself, but the process of law-making in courts, that is the focus of inquiry. Contributors describe and analyse aspects of judicial activity, in the widest possible legal and social contexts, across two millennia. The essays cover English common law, continental customary law and ius commune, and aspects of the common law system in the British Empire. The volume is innovative in its approach to legal history. None of the essays offer straight doctrinal exegesis; none take refuge in old-fashioned judicial biography. The volume is a selection of the best papers from the 18th British Legal History Conference"-- "More than two hundred legal historians, from every corner of the globe, met in Oxford at the Eighteenth British Legal History Conference in early July 2007 to hear and present papers on the history of "judges and judging". A selection of the papers presented at the conference has now been revised and edited t