Editorial

Abstract

This journal aims to offer a contribution to the literature on comparative legal history. It gathers scientific studies and reviews of monographs that deal with law across time and space. This journal is part of the wider efforts of the European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH) and it aims to display the work by scholars from across the globe. Issue 1 of Volume 11 presents three scientific studies that engage in comparative legal historical exercises. The first article, by Miriam Jensen Tveit and Helle Vogt, takes readers to towns in medieval Denmark and Norway, exploring regulations on urban poverty and the personae miserabiles (deserving poor). The comparative approach deals with jurisdictions, but also with the nature of rules, be it municipal or related to the church. The study further assesses the Scandinavian experience in light of the general European trends. The second article, by Rauna Kuokkanen, likewise explores Scandinavia. The focus is on the Sámi people and their interaction with land. The author invites readers to revisit the understanding of ownership. The study extends through the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, allowing readers to explore the different shifts in the relationship with land, including exclusion, dispossession and racialization. The third article, by Đoàn Thanh Hải and Đoàn Thi ̣ Phương Diệp, continues looking at the pillar offered by property. The authors study the ‘điển’ in ancient Vietnamese society, extending the attention to other parts of the Sinosphere. The article then alerts on the broad range of uses of điển, and engages in an analysis of the functionalist approach by nineteenthand twentieth -century French academics and Frencheducated Vietnamese scholars. The article therefore invites for methodological insights into comparative legal history. The three scientific studies ultimately help demonstrate that comparisons in time and space can help unveil to a broader extent why events took place and not only what events took place, as pointed by David Ibbetson in the first issue of this journal. The book reviews section of Issue 1 of Volume 11 presents nine monographs that ought to be of interest for scholars who engage in comparative legal historical exercises. The first book reviewed deals with the history of international law, looking at the ways in which historians and international law scholars can help unveil the paths that were followed. The second book reviewed looks at the growth of representative institutions in Western Europe. It explains the power struggle between different actors in a multiplicity of jurisdictions, showing the materialization of representative institutions through strong central authorities. The third book reviewed broadens the understanding of the School of Salamanca. The authors’ work with source materials helps confirm the transatlantic dimension of Salamantine scholars, impacting legal thought in Europe and beyond.