Antiquity Roman legal scholarship is generally regarded as the oldest historically documented form of legal science, reaching its peak during the
classical period. For earlier legal systems—such as those of
Mesopotamia,
Egypt, or
ancient Greece—current research assumes that although people there also reflected on legal matters, these reflections did not cross the threshold into what we would call a true legal science. Building on
Greek philosophy (especially
Stoicism), the problem of justice was extensively discussed in Greece. However, unlike the
Romans—who drew inspiration from Greece when creating their
Twelve Tables—the Greeks did not attempt to systematically analyse or organise the body of law that was in force.
Middle Ages founded the school of
glossators in
Bologna Modern legal scholarship began at the
University of Bologna. In the early 12th century, a manuscript of
Justinian's Digest was discovered there, prompting the
glossators to begin teaching based on the preserved
Roman law. Methodologically, they attempted to understand the law in the spirit of
scholasticism. Around this time, the first faculties also emerged in
Italy, where sons of the
nobility received education in
canon law,
secular law, and
medicine. The
Corpus iuris civilis, codified in
Late Antiquity, spread throughout
continental Europe, with the exception of
Scandinavia and the
British Isles.
Modern Era Until the end of the 19th century, legal scholarship in
Central Europe was primarily focused on
private law. Since then, it has differentiated itself considerably. Out of the practical needs of
public administration, an administrative science gradually developed, which quite early expanded into a scholarly engagement with
public law. == See also ==