This is a broad history of the western European legal tradition. From the modern age the author looks back to a time when Europe had a common law that transcended national and legal boundaries. This common law, which Bellomo calls the ius commune, had developed in the 12th century from the fusion of Roman, canon and feudal law. Existing within the framework of the ius commune were the local laws or iura propria - the myriad laws of everyday life, the laws particular to the various kingdoms, principalities, cities, guilds and secular and ecclesiastical corporations. Bellomo illustrates how for...