This wide-ranging book is a comparative study of the civil law, primarily the legal systems of western continental Europe and Latin America. It attempts to account for the distinctive features of civil law systems and hence to contribute to an understanding of the forces that cause law to change. The author contends that the basic differences between civil-law and common-law systems derive from legal history rather than from social, economic, or political developments. Above all, he argues, it was the acceptance of the authority of Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis that determined the future nature of civil-law systems and gave them their distinctive character.

Mr. Watson outlines the features of Roman law as codified by Justinian that made it adaptable in countries with widely differing political systems, social structures, and local court practices. His learned and lucid exposition encompasses the role and influence of professors of Roman law in medieval universities; the manner and extent to which the case law of various countries drew upon the Corpus Juris; the role of the Institutes as a model for the institutes of local law which were the immediate ancestors of most of the national codes; and the effect of the Corpus Juris on basic features of the civil law, such as the fundamental division between public and private law, with different courts for the two, and the separation of commercial law from the rest of private law.

Scholars may debate his thesis, but none will dispute Alan Watson's command of the sources and his mastery of legal material spanning many centuries and countries. His book will present a challenge to legal historians and students of comparative law, and it will provide Anglo-American lawyers with insight into the nature of civil-law systems.