The Making of the Modern Law Series (MoML)
INTRODUCING MoML, PART VI:
Foreign, Comparative, and
International Law, c. 1600-1926
GALE: A Force in Legal History Publishing
Gale has produced five successful legal history digital products, collectively called
The Making of Modern Law. To date the components of MoML are as follows.
Year
Series Collection Title
2004
MoML I: The Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926
2006
MoML II: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978
2007
MoML III: Trials, 1600-1926
2010
MoML IV: Primary Sources I, 1620-1926
2011
MoML V: Primary Sources II, 1763-1970
2012
MoML VI: Foreign, Comparative, and International Law, 1600-1926
The Making of Modern Law
The Making of Modern Law has given all law libraries
access to legal history materials previously available
only at a few major repositories, and it has offered even
the largest law libraries new capabilities for searching
historical publications.
MoML I: Legal Treatises, the cornerstone of the Gale
legal history collection, is the world’s most
comprehensive collection of Anglo-American legal
treatises from 1800 to 1926. Legal Treatises contains
22,000 works and over 10 million pages.
MoML I: Legal Treatises was
selected by The American
Association of Law Libraries
BEST NEW PRODUCT, 2005
Making of Modern Law: Value Proposition
One way of presenting the suite
of legal history products is to
focus solely on each one as a
free-standing entity.
Another way is to describe them
as building-blocks toward the
end-result of recreating the
world's great law libraries
digitally on every researcher’s
desktop.
Roundell Palmer, Lord High Chancellor (1812-1895)
Defining the Next MoML Component…
Topic areas (a finalized title list under development):
• International and Comparative Law. A collection of international
law titles in English and major western European languages.
Primarily a monograph collection corresponding to the period of
MoML Legal Treatises, with “classics” such as Grotius and early
modern writers.
• Classics of European Law. Encompasses foreign legal treatises.
The term "treatise" is more of a common-law category and the
equivalent works in civil-law systems may have other names such
as commentaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, monographs, or
festschriften. Languages would include French, German, Spanish,
Portuguese, Latin, Dutch, Italian, and other Western languages,
with English language titles favored.
• Roman and Canon Law. Complements treatises included in
MOML: Legal Treatises. Recognizes that the roots of English
common law will be found in the deep recesses of European
history.
Broad Editorial Scope: Addresses the needs of FCIL Librarians
Foreign Law Foreign law covers the national and sub-national (e.g., provincial) laws or
other jurisdictions. Although “foreign law” often refers to the law of any jurisdiction other
than the United States, it also has a narrower connotation; some law librarians restrict the
term foreign law to jurisdictions out the Anglo-American legal family.
Comparative Law From the FCIL Librarian’s perspective, comparative law plays out as a
foreign law question. Scholars do not agree on how many types of legal systems exist in the
world, but the major types are common law, civil law, Islamic, and mixed (a combination of
one or more legal systems). Other types are the Talmudic, customary, indigenous, and
socialist legal system.
International Law Classical public international law deals exclusively with the legal system
governing relations between nations, such as the law of the sea. The modern concept
extends to international organizations, nations, and individuals. Human rights, international
trade, and the environment are among new subjects in public international law.
Identifying the North American Audience:
FCIL Special Interest Section of AALL
FCIL: A Growing Career Field
Proof of Concept
§ MOML FCIL is not the initial installment of a non-Anglo-American legal product line
strategy.
§ Rather it is a logical (but not exclusive) extension of MOML 1. It’s the expansion of legal
treatises along various complementary fronts: international law; comparative law; civil
and European law; the history of law since Roman times in English and Western
languages up until the 1920s. In the tradition of many American jurists and legal
theorists, it seeks a comparative approach to answer questions about human rights, civil
liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, property rights, licensing,
extraterritoriality, judicial procedure, capital punishment, the sentencing of felons, the
role of the state, the role of attorneys and judges, and other topics.
§ If there is a common theme here it’s that “comparative” and “foreign” law is built into
the curriculum because the theoretical and practical questions of law must be placed in a
broad historical context. MoML FCIL is not a departure into unchartered territory. It’s an
extension of the scope outlined in MOML: Legal Treatises.
Proof of Concept:
Topics in Law Courses at GWU, Maryland, UCLA, Penn, and Elsewhere
§ the history and development of the great European civil codes
§ similarities and differences between "civil law" and "common law“
§ the court systems, legal education and professions, sources of law, and procedural
law of the civil law tradition, with particular emphasis on France and Germany
§ the relationship of international law to United States law
§ rise of the individual as a subject of international law
§ U.S. versus the Continental and Asia Pacific vision of privacy
§ the rich diversity of cultural, historical, philosophical and religious traditions within
which legal concepts and rules have been formulated
§ transformative jurisprudence through a comparative examination of courts treatment
of socio-economic rights
§ the emergence of the concept of humanitarian law
§ critiques of Western human rights schemes
§ essential themes in Jewish, Christian and Islamic jurisprudence
Proof of Concept: Questions Raised in Courses at GWU, Maryland,
UCLA, Penn, and Elsewhere
§ What are the various methodological and theoretical approaches to comparative law?
§ How may we compare and contrast civil liberties in the United States and other
countries?
§ What is the justification for punishment and how do the various debates in this area
play out in specific controversial cases?
§ Is targeted killing a permissible part of just war theory?
§ What should be our stance to government officials who violate the law?
§ Is law central to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam? And if so, in what manner? What are
their respective attitudes to revelation, sacred texts and oral traditions? How much
autonomy are humans granted to interpret and adapt sacral law? What is the
relationship of law to the state and power?
§ How may we explore the most controversial aspects of International Human Rights law
such as the universalism versus relativism debate, cultural and religious exceptions to
global human rights standards, hypocrisy and double standards in human rights
enforcement, the war on terrorism, and the use of torture?
“MOML FCIL”: The logical extension of MOML
Foreign, Comparative, and International Law: Relevant topics to be found in
MOML Legal Treatises Advanced Search include:
Administrative Law
Constitutional Law
Family Law
International Law
Jurisprudence Law
Legal History
Maritime Law
Real Property
Penology
Politics and Government
Family Law, an
example:
Marriage and Divorce
Law in Europe: A
Study of Comparative
Legislation (1893)
International Law
“International Law” in MoML
Legal Treatises:
Vattel’s classic Law of Nations
and American Diplomacy by
Freeman Snow
None of the titles in existing
Gale databases will appear in
the forthcoming MoML: FCIL.
Examples of Comparative Law in
MoML LEGAL TREATISES
Defining the product:
Examples of
comparative law in
Legal Treatises:
Left: Patent and
Trademark Laws (1899)
and
Right: Waters: French
Law and Common Law
(1918)
Synergy with Legal Treatises in the Exploration
of the Origins of English Common Law
MOML FCIL explores the roots of English
and American law in the development of
continental civil law:
“Oath helper” = 13 results
Pollock and Maitland, The history of English
law before the time of Edward I (1895)
“Jury” + “Early Middle Ages” = 99 results
Stubbs, William, The constitutional history of
England (1874-1878)
English and foreign-language sources expand
the coverage of the Middle Ages and
Renaissance.
“mens rea” + “Middle Ages” + discovery = 66
results
Best, W.M., Treatise on the principles of the
law of evidence: with elementary rules for
examination and cross-examination of
witnesses
Synergy with the ECCO Law Module
Classic texts in ECCO:
Left: Grotius, The Rights of
War and Peace (London,
1715)
Right: Summary of the law of
nations, founded on the
treaties and customs of the
modern nations of Europe;
with a list of the principal
treaties (London, 1795)
Note: There will be no
duplication of these books in
MoML: FCIL.
Cornelius van Bynkershoek
Synergy with US Supreme Court Records and Briefs:
“Muller v. Oregon” (1908)
The “Brandeis
brief” in Muller
v. Oregon – a
celebrated
example of
“comparative”
law
Synergy with US Supreme Court Records and Briefs:
Cases in International Law
Left:
Banco Mexicano De
Commercio E Industria
v. Deutsche Bank, 263
U.S. 591 (1924)
Right:
Direction Der
Disconto-Gesellschaft
v. U S Steel
Corporation, 267 U.S.
22 (1925)
Synergy with Trials, 1600-1926
International Law: The Case of the United States of America Before the International
Boundary Commission Under the Provisions of the Convention Between The United States
of America and The United States of Mexico,
June 24, 1910.
Chamizal
Dispute (1911).
This dispute over
600 acres along
the U.S./Mexico
border took 50
years to settle
and raised
significant issues
on the nature of
treaties and the
resolution of
international
disputes.
Synergy with Trials, 1600-1926
Examples of International
Law in TRIALS:
Left: The Case of the
Armed Brig of War (New
York and Albany, 1857)
Right: An Account of the
War Criminals Trial and a
Study of German Mentality
(London, 1921)
Note: There will be no
duplication of these
documents in MOML FCIL
Synergy with Gale’s Sabin and Making of the Modern World
Complements the
European and
Latin American
legal history in
Gale’s historical
archives,
including Making
of the Modern
World and Sabin.
Evidence of Interest in Comparative Legal History
Associations
• American Society of International Law
• American Society for Legal History
• Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society
• Criminal Justice/Legal History Network
• European Society for the History of Law
• International Association for the History of Crime and
Criminal Justice
• Max Planck Institute for European Legal History
• Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History
• Scottish Legal History Group
• Selden Society
• SOLON: Promoting Interdisciplinary Studies in Crime
and Bad Behaviour
• Toronto Legal History Group
Appendix: The KZs -- for the librarian in all of us!
.
Appendix: In Library of Congress cataloguing terms we are pursuing the KZs -- a rich
subject area that fits well with what we have so far published.
KZ 1-6785 Law of nations
27-38
By region or country
(60)-62.5 Intergovernmental congresses and conferences
184-194
Peace treaties
1249-1252 International law and other disciplines
1255-1273 Theory and principles
1267-1273 Domain of the law of nations
1287-1296 Codification of the law of nations
1298-1304 The law of treaties. System of treaty Law
1321-1323.5 International legal regimes
1328
Ancient history and theory
1329-3085 Early/Medieval development to ca. 1900 Ius Naturae et Gentium
1330-1338 Peace of Westphalia to the French Revolution (1648-1789)
1345-1369 French Revolution to the American Civil War (1789-1861)
1373-1387.2 American Civil War to the First Conference of the Hague (1861-1899)
2064-3085 Publicists. Writers on public international law
Journals of Interest to FCIL Patrons
Our Partners for this Component: Yale Law Library and George
Washington University, among others…
Lilian Goldman
Law Library,
Yale University
Jacob Burns Law Library,
George Washington University
MOML FCIL: Product Snapshot
 Product title (tentative): Making of
Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative, and
International Law, c. 1600-1926
 Scope: International and comparative law,
including monographs on the laws of
foreign jurisdictions
 Languages: 50% in English; 50% in
Western European languages
 Number of pages: ~1.2 million
 Document “type”: Monographs
 Contributing libraries: Yale Law Library;
George Washington University
 Publication date:: 20 June 2012
 MARC records: Yes (in December 2012)
Breakdown of pages - ROUGH ESTIMATES
Yale University: ~840,000 pages
Other sources to be named: ~240,000 pages
GWU: ~120,000 pages
MOML FCIL: Potential Subject Categories
(Rough Draft)
International law
French and Belgian law
German, Swiss and Austrian law
Italian law
Spanish and Portuguese law
Comparative law
Roman law
Ancient law
Canon law
Jewish law
Islamic law
50% in English;
50% in Western
European
languages
Dutch law
Scandinavian law
Russian and Eastern European law
Mexican law
Latin American law
African and Middle Eastern law
Indian law
Chinese and Japanese law
Canadian law
Australian and New Zealand law
British Colonies law