Introduction to Austrian and European Legal History

With the beginning of the winter semester 2021/22, degree programmes in International Legal Studies (LLB/LLM) will be introduced at the University of Vienna alongside the traditional Law programme. This book covers large parts of the module “European and Global Legal History“, which will be offered in English as a part of this course. It is a translation of the relevant chapters from the book “Rechtsgeschichte. Einführung in die historischen Grundlagen des Rechts”, which appeared in its fifth edition in 2019 and contains an introduction to the main aspects of Austrian and European Legal History.
The first part, “developments“, provides a concise overview of the most relevant constitutional developments from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. The second part, “structures“, examines different forms of state rule: feudal monarchy, absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, democracy, socialist dictatorship, fascist dictatorship, authoritarian corporative state and the return to democracy; a separate chapter is devoted to European integration. The third part deals with the development of legislation and jurisprudence in Austria and Europe.