Legal interpretation in 18th century Europe

doctrinal debates versus political change

Jean-Louis Halperin

pp. 181-187

in: Yasutomo Morigiwa, Michael Stolleis, Jean-Louis Halperin (eds), Interpretation of law in the age of enlightenment, Berlin, Springer, 2011

Abstract

The historical debates about legal interpretation are, simultaneously, products of the longue durée from as far back as Roman origins, and the outcomes of more recent contexts. From this perspective, the period between the end of the 17th century – with the works of Hobbes, De Luca and Domat – and the beginning of the 19th century – with the trends disseminated by Zachariae and Thibaut in Germany – was an era of intensive thinking about judicial power and hermeneutic methods. While Montesquieu, Blackstone or Beccaria proposed their solutions to these problems, the development of the modern State, alongside the revolutionary process in France and the greater part of Europe made the 18th century a turning point in the relations between law and those interpreting it.