Law and Revolution, II: The Impact of the Protestant Reformations on the Western Legal Tradition

by Harold J. Berman

Overview

Harold Berman’s masterwork narrates the interaction of evolution and revolution in the development of Western law. This new volume explores two successive transformations of the Western legal tradition under the impact of the sixteenth-century German Reformation and the seventeenth-century English Revolution, with particular emphasis on Lutheran and Calvinist influences. Berman examines the far-reaching consequences of these apocalyptic political and social upheavals on the systems of legal philosophy, legal science, criminal law, civil and economic law, and social law in Germany and England and throughout Europe as a whole.

Berman challenges both conventional approaches to legal history, which have neglected the religious foundations of Western legal systems, and standard social theory, which has paid insufficient attention to the communitarian dimensions of early modern economic law, including corporation law and social welfare.

Clearly written and cogently argued, this long-awaited, magisterial work is a major contribution to an understanding of the relationship of law to Western belief systems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674022300
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/30/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Harold J. Berman was Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University and Ames Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

I. The German Revolution and the Transformation of German Law in the Sixteenth Century

1. The Reformation of the Church and of the State, 1517-1555

2. Lutheran Legal Philosophy

3. The Transformation of German Legal Science

4. The Transformation of German Criminal Law

5. The Transformation of German Civil and Economic Law

6. The Transformation of German Social Law

Ii. The English Revolution and the Transformation of English Law in the Seventeenth Century

7. The English Revolution, 1640-1689

8. The Transformation of English Legal Philosophy

9. The Transformation of English Legal Science

10. The Transformation of English Criminal Law

11. The Transformation of English Civil and Economic Law

12. The Transformation of English Social Law

Conclusion

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

What People are Saying About This

A wonderfully stimulating work that highlights a very important aspect of the development of European law that has so far been largely neglected. Well written and lucidly presented, it maintains a good balance between the general and the specific, and is based throughout on original research of sources that are neither easily accessible nor easy to interpret. With this book, Harold Berman offers another distinguished contribution to legal scholarship.

Reinhard Zimmerman

A wonderfully stimulating work that highlights a very important aspect of the development of European law that has so far been largely neglected. Well written and lucidly presented, it maintains a good balance between the general and the specific, and is based throughout on original research of sources that are neither easily accessible nor easy to interpret. With this book, Harold Berman offers another distinguished contribution to legal scholarship.
— Reinhard Zimmerman, Max Planck Institute, Hamburg

R. H. Helmholz

A unique contribution to the history of the Western legal tradition. Harold Berman is a master at integrating detail with larger themes, presenting the material in a way that the point is never lost. A great deal will be almost entirely new to English-speaking readers. The treatment of the development of jurisprudence within Protestant Germany is especially valuable. The role of 'revolutions' in shaping but still preserving the essence of the Western legal tradition is one that Berman has made his own. This is a substantial achievement.
— R. H. Helmholz, University of Chicago Law School

Editorial Reviews

A careful reading of this relevant volume, Law and Revolution, II, provides much food for thought. The author, Harold J. Berman, examines the present dilemma by looking at the past… This volume and its valuable footnotes contain a wealth of information… This volume is relevant for today.

Byron Snapp

A unique contribution to the history of the Western legal tradition. Harold Berman is a master at integrating detail with larger themes, presenting the material in a way that the point is never lost. A great deal will be almost entirely new to English-speaking readers. The treatment of the development of jurisprudence within Protestant Germany is especially valuable. The role of ‘revolutions’ in shaping but still preserving the essence of the Western legal tradition is one that Berman has made his own. This is a substantial achievement.

R. H. Helmholz

It is not necessary to share Berman’s belief in order to appreciate much in this book.

Michael D. Gordonn Historical Review

For those interested in the ongoing debates about the social consequences of the Protestant Reformation for subsequent Western history, this book of great learning is a welcome contribution to the literature. [It] has also been a much anticipated book, coming now twenty years after Harold Berman’s path-breaking first installment, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition. In the present volume, Berman continues his provocative analysis of theological and ecclesiastical roots of the legal tradition that has been developing in the West for nearly a millennium, but that he fears is presently in crisis… This second volume of Law and Revolution is a work of vast erudition that few other scholars would be capable of producing. The synthesis of legal and theological scholarship, as well as the integration of intellectual, ecclesiastical, and political developments, are crucial to the claims of this book and are impressive throughout. The author’s claims are persuasively argued and one can confidently conclude that scholars working on related issues in the future cannot safely ignore his conclusions.

Westminster Theological Journal - David VanDrunen

In the second volume of his magnum opus, Harold Berman intends to rescue from neglect Lutheran legal teachings, and does so by expanding his attention beyond Luther to include the works of the humanist theologian Philip Melanchthon, and the lesser-known Lutheran jurists, Johann Apel, Konrad Lagus, and Johann Oldendorp. His close reading of these jurists makes the most significant contribution to the study of early modern continental legal philosophy and its possible ramifications… Not only Europeans, but heirs of legal institutions and ways of thinking about states, rights, and religion that flowed from the European experience, need to heed the call to a more self-conscious and deliberate questioning of whether a narrative that traces the law’s liberating trajectory from confessionalism and beyond nationalism is persuasive at all. Berman…provides provocative and rewarding investigations of where and how our current dilemmas with that narrative began.

Law and Social Inquiry - A. G. Rieber

Taken together, Berman’s two volumes offer a sweeping panorama of the rise of modern law in the West, from its medieval beginnings to the start of the eighteenth century. In scope, learning, and ambition there is nothing else quite like them, and they constitute one of the deepest contributions to scholarship to have emerged from the legal academy in decades. In calling attention to these neglected episodes in the history of Western law, Berman has raised a host of difficult questions for historical and philosophical investigation, and one can only hope that others will follow his footsteps and explore the territory he has charted.

Constitutional Commentary - William B. Ewald

Berman is at his best when illustrating the effect that a judicious study of law has on our appreciation of Western history. His meticulous and impassioned parsing of the theological and philosophical roots of the German legal academy or of the English adversarial system is instructive to a degree surpassed only by his previous work in Law and Revolution. His prescient call for an ‘integrative jurisprudence’ will surely be heeded, and is arguably already the norm in legal practice, though perhaps not in legal theory.

Foundations of Political Theory - Victor M. Muñiz-Fraticelli

A wonderfully stimulating work that highlights a very important aspect of the development of European law that has so far been largely neglected. Well written and lucidly presented, it maintains a good balance between the general and the specific, and is based throughout on original research of sources that are neither easily accessible nor easy to interpret. With this book, Harold Berman offers another distinguished contribution to legal scholarship.

Reinhard Zimmerman

The present volume…will be of interest mainly to the general reader seriously concerned about the moral direction of our troubled time. For such a reader there is much to learn and ponder in this compendious book. Berman gives close attention to the efforts of Lutheran theologians, jurists, and politicians to reconcile divine law and natural law, the former revealed in Scripture, the latter accessed by reason.

Law and History Review - Gerald Strauss

Berman repeatedly [shows] the interrelationship between history, religion, and law.

Federal Lawyer - Henry Cohen

Berman is at his best when illustrating the effect that a judicious study of law has on our appreciation of Western history. His meticulous and impassioned parsing of the theological and philosophical roots of the German legal academy or of the English adversarial system is instructive to a degree surpassed only by his previous work in Law and Revolution. His prescient call for an 'integrative jurisprudence' will surely be heeded, and is arguably already the norm in legal practice, though perhaps not in legal theory.

Foundations of Political Theory - Victor M. Mũniz-Fraticelli

In the second volume of his magnum opus, Harold Berman intends to rescue from neglect Lutheran legal teachings, and does so by expanding his attention beyond Luther to include the works of the humanist theologian Philip Melanchthon, and the lesser-known Lutheran jurists, Johann Apel, Konrad Lagus, and Johann Oldendorp. His close reading of these jurists makes the most significant contribution to the study of early modern continental legal philosophy and its possible ramifications...Not only Europeans, but heirs of legal institutions and ways of thinking about states, rights, and religion that flowed from the European experience, need to heed the call to a more self-conscious and deliberate questioning of whether a narrative that traces the law's liberating trajectory from confessionalism and beyond nationalism is persuasive at all. Berman...provides provocative and rewarding investigations of where and how our current dilemmas with that narrative began.

Law and Social Inquiry - A. G. rieber

It is not necessary to share Berman's belief in order to appreciate much in this book.

American Historical Review - Michael D. Gordon

Taken together, Berman's two volumes offer a sweeping panorama of the rise of modern law in the West, from its medieval beginnings to the start of the eighteenth century. In scope, learning, and ambition there is nothing else quite like them, and they constitute one of the deepest contributions to scholarship to have emerged from the legal academy in decades. In calling attention to these neglected episodes in the history of Western law, Berman has raised a host of difficult questions for historical and philosophical investigation, and one can only hope that others will follow his footsteps and explore the territory he has charted.

— William B. Ewald

Constitutional Commentary

In the second volume of his magnum opus, Harold Berman intends to rescue from neglect Lutheran legal teachings, and does so by expanding his attention beyond Luther to include the works of the humanist theologian Philip Melanchthon, and the lesser-known Lutheran jurists, Johann Apel, Konrad Lagus, and Johann Oldendorp. His close reading of these jurists makes the most significant contribution to the study of early modern continental legal philosophy and its possible ramifications...Not only Europeans, but heirs of legal institutions and ways of thinking about states, rights, and religion that flowed from the European experience, need to heed the call to a more self-conscious and deliberate questioning of whether a narrative that traces the law's liberating trajectory from confessionalism and beyond nationalism is persuasive at all. Berman...provides provocative and rewarding investigations of where and how our current dilemmas with that narrative began.
— A. G. rieber

Law and Social Inquiry

A careful reading of this relevant volume, Law and Revolution II, provides much food for thought. The author, Harold J. Berman, examines the present dilemma by looking at the past...This volume and its valuable footnotes contain a wealth of information...This volume is relevant for today.
— Byron Snapp

The Chalcedon Foundation

Berman repeatedly [shows] the interrelationship between history, religion, and law.
— Henry Cohen

The Federal Lawyer

It is not necessary to share Berman's belief in order to appreciate much in this book.
— Michael D. Gordon

American Historical Review

The present volume...will be of interest mainly to the general reader seriously concerned about the moral direction of our troubled time. For such a reader there is much to learn and ponder in this compendious book. Berman gives close attention to the efforts of Lutheran theologians, jurists, and politicians to reconcile divine law and natural law, the former revealed in Scripture, the latter accessed by reason.
— Gerald Strauss

Law and History Review

Berman is at his best when illustrating the effect that a judicious study of law has on our appreciation of Western history. His meticulous and impassioned parsing of the theological and philosophical roots of the German legal academy or of the English adversarial system is instructive to a degree surpassed only by his previous work in Law and Revolution. His prescient call for an 'integrative jurisprudence' will surely be heeded, and is arguably already the norm in legal practice, though perhaps not in legal theory.
— Victor M. Mũniz-Fraticelli

Foundations of Political Theory

For those interested in the ongoing debates about the social consequences of the Protestant Reformation for subsequent Western history, this book of great learning is a welcome contribution to the literature. [It] has also been a much anticipated book, coming now twenty years after Harold Berman's path-breaking first installment, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition. In the present volume, Berman continues his provocative analysis of theological and ecclesiastical roots of the legal tradition that has been developing in the West for nearly a millennium, but that he fears is presently in crisis...This second volume of Law and Revolution is a work of vast erudition that few other scholars would be capable of producing. The synthesis of legal and theological scholarship, as well as the integration of intellectual, ecclesiastical, and political developments, are crucial to the claims of this book and are impressive throughout. The author's claims are persuasively argued and one can confidently conclude that scholars working on related issues in the future cannot safely ignore his conclusions.
— David VanDrunen

Westminster Theological Journal

A careful reading of this relevant volume, Law and Revolution II, provides much food for thought. The author, Harold J. Berman, examines the present dilemma by looking at the past...This volume and its valuable footnotes contain a wealth of information...This volume is relevant for today.

The Chalcedon Foundation - Byron Snapp

For those interested in the ongoing debates about the social consequences of the Protestant Reformation for subsequent Western history, this book of great learning is a welcome contribution to the literature. [It] has also been a much anticipated book, coming now twenty years after Harold Berman's path-breaking first installment, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition. In the present volume, Berman continues his provocative analysis of theological and ecclesiastical roots of the legal tradition that has been developing in the West for nearly a millennium, but that he fears is presently in crisis...This second volume of Law and Revolution is a work of vast erudition that few other scholars would be capable of producing. The synthesis of legal and theological scholarship, as well as the integration of intellectual, ecclesiastical, and political developments, are crucial to the claims of this book and are impressive throughout. The author's claims are persuasively argued and one can confidently conclude that scholars working on related issues in the future cannot safely ignore his conclusions.

Westminster Theological Journal - David Vandrunen