ABSTRACT
Weber sees “modern law,” or Logical-formal law, as specific to the modern West. Again, his analysis of its origins, contours, and trajectory must be reconstructed from a variety of his texts.
The earliest predecessor was Roman law as interpreted in the Medieval period. Reforms of this type of law by the patrimonial empires of the High Middle Ages established strong precursors for Logical-formal law, as did the reforms in this era of Roman law by Canon law. Because England developed Common law, it constituted an empirical variation case. Nonetheless, a strong step toward Logical-formal law on the European continent was taken by Natural law.
Weber again stressed that each development in the law domain took place as a consequence of multiple causal groups. This reconstruction of his analysis in part isolates these groups by reference to his wide-ranging comparisons to India, the Middle East, and China.
