Law and the Medieval Village Community Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book traces the study of the medieval village community from early historical works in the nineteenth century through to current research. It reveals alternative ways of making and conceiving of law not dependent on state authority, particularly in relation to customary and communal property rights. This poses challenges for legal theory: the legal positivism that dominates Western legal philosophy tends to reject custom as a source of law. The work argues that medieval customary law should...