Editorial

Abstract

The journal has now reached its tenth volume, continuously offering a forum for comparative legal historians and their work. The content of the existing volumes attests that the journal endorses the efforts of the European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH). Together, the journal and the ESCLH aim to develop and disseminate disciplinary studies that look at law across time and space. Issue 1 of Volume 10 offers methodological tools and exemplary studies that ought to be considered by those who aim to engage in comparative legal historical exercises. The articles section of this issue confirms the above statement by means of three articles. The first article, by Caroline Laske, offers a much needed toolbox that can be used when the subject of study relates to the language within a source. The author alerts readers of the usefulness of corpus linguistics methodologies when aiming to answer questions that require the unveiling of patterns in legal language usage and ways of encoding meanings. After all, language is a fundamental conduit for the law. The second article, by Gustaaf van Nifterik, offers an example of how the activities of actors – at different times and places – can be interconnected, with the potential of showing common, diverging, or recurring narratives. The author offers a ‘dialogue’ between Edward Coke, Fernando Vázquez de Menchaca, Jean Bodin, and Hugo de Groot on iurisdictio and imperium. The author does not hesitate to point to a Europe-wide process. The third article, by Ricardo Pelegrin Taboada, takes the readers to the Americas and analyses the development of the legal profession during the Spanish Colonial period and until the emergence of republics in the nineteenth century. The focus is on Mexico and Cuba, offering transatlantic and inter-American bridges. The author attends the different roles played by universities, bar associations, and the existing elites. The three articles in this issue confirm that comparative legal history is a discipline that cannot be circumscribed to a specific time and place, being therefore broad and diverse in its scope. The book reviews section of this issue presents a sample of the specialized literature that continues to develop in the field of comparative legal history. The first book reviewed deals with international law in West Africa under British colonialism, hence addressing a part of the Globe that continues to require more attention in the pages of the journal. The second book reviewed undertakes a comparative exploration of the relationship between guilds and the development of insurance, hence bridging an important lacuna in the field. The third book reviewed deals with a pillar of private law, looking at the family and marital property mainly around Northern Italy and the Austrian realm. That work offers valuable approaches from social anthropology and