This much appreciated work traces the development and absorption of Roman Law into western European systems, the nature and practice of feudalism and customary law, and the growth of the canon law. The focus of the book gravitates naturally towards the heart of Europe, the Italian peninsular, France and Germany, but attention is also paid to the evolution of the Scottish and English systems.

Gaius was a Roman jurist of the 2nd century AD. His Institutes is an important legal textbook covering all the elements of Roman law. This volume contains a useful Introduction, English translation and the Latin text of Seckel and Kuebler. Its aim is to make the Institutes, one of the seminal works of Roman law, accessible to students with little or no Latin.