Knowledge production by comparison

Vol. 328 of the Studien zur europäischen Rechtsgeschichte has been published

The essays in this volume explore comparison as a method of knowledge production from the perspective of legal history. The studies, written by Heinz Mohnhaupt over the last three decades, throw light on the – today largely forgotten – historical dimensions of this method. Based on a close reading of sources, Mohnhaupt examines its central problems and key authors from the Late Middle Ages through the Enlightenment debates on natural law to the codification movement of the 19th century. His studies show that the theory and practice of the comparative observation of state, society and law in the early modern period can be interpreted as a general cultural technique of knowledge acquisition which constituted a preliminary stage in the development of modern comparative law.

Studien zur europäischen Rechtsgeschichte 328 Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann 2022, X, 247 S.