ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores boundaries of the law challenges traditional views and orthodox ways of looking historically at the law's context and its operation. It focuses specifically on the types of law and legal institutions within Europe in the medieval and early modern periods. The book indicates that distinctions should not too readily be drawn in certain instances between the personal and the institutional, nor assumptions made as to the oppositional nature of centre and locality. It reveals how the sources themselves have determined the limitations of historical enterprise. The book focuses on the lay and the ecclesiastical authorities joined together: in applying the peace rules in Aquitaine, for instance, and in punishing heinous sexual crimes in Sweden. It draws on a series given at the Second International Legal History Conference held at the University of Exeter in April 2003.
