A Short History of Comparative Law: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

This authoritative book explores the phenomenon of legal comparison across historical time periods. Analysing historical relationships between orders, legislation, borders and the circulation of ideas, Roberto Scarciglia traces the progressive reconstruction of comparative law as a scientific process.

Scarciglia emphasises the evolution of the field over time, cataloguing this complex history of events and processes while acknowledging the impossibility of describing thousands of years of history as one homogenous whole. Chapters incorporate frequently neglected African, Asian and Latin American perspectives to outline the history of comparative law across the ancient world, the middle ages, the renaissance, and from the 17th to early-20th centuries. Cataloguing legal history from Roman law and early decolonial movements to the implications of integrated artificial intelligence, the book contextualises the past and speculates on the future of this rapidly evolving discipline.

A Short History of Comparative Law is a crucial resource for scholars and students of comparative law, legal history, legal theory and research methodology. It will also serve as an invaluable reference for international legal scholars and historians seeking to familiarise themselves with the complex historical context of contemporary legal systems.