Chapter Summary

Roman law's survival in Western Europe was patchy at best after Rome fell in AD 476. However, the study of Roman legal texts was revived in the Middle Ages, and came to form the basis of a general European ius commune (‘common law'). This was not a single legal order, but instead a shared resource that could be drawn on to interpret and fill gaps in local laws. Although the unity this created began to break up from the sixteenth century onwards, threads of continuity can be traced into modern legal systems. Indeed, in some countries, including Scotland, Roman and ius commune literature continues to be used in the present day.