An Introduction to German Law and Legal Culture

An Introduction to German Law and Legal Culture offers students, comparative law scholars, and practitioners an insightful and innovative survey of the German legal system. While recognizing the significant influence of the Civil Law tradition in the German legal culture, the book also considers other legal traditions – Common Law, Socialist Law, Islamic Law, Adversarial Law, European Law – that are woven into the varied and colorful fabric of the German legal culture. The book provides an informed yet accessible introduction to the foundations of German law as well as to the theory and doctrine of some of the most relevant fields of law: Private Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Criminal Law, Procedural Law, and European Law. It is an engaging and pluralistic portrayal of one of the world's most interesting, important, and frequently modelled legal systems.

Includes a dedicated chapter on the common approaches to comparative legal studies to help students with an encounter with foreign legal systems
Provides comparisons to more familiar legal systems when discussing German norms and legal institutions
Each chapter contains an introductory list of 'key concepts' to allow students to understand new and complex foreign legal concepts

Reviews & endorsements

‘A very rich book, full of references and quotations, so much so that it even includes passages from Goethe's 'Faust'.’ Salvatore Mazzamuto, Il Sole 24 Ore

‘Miller shows the familiar from a new angle, also for those who are already acquainted with German legal culture. It is an enjoyable read in an easily understandable style with impressive intellectual depth. This volume will definitely be the most used university textbook on German law in English. … Miller is a highly esteemed ambassador of German legal culture all around the world (not just in the US). This book will cement his reputation for the foreseeable future.’ András Jakab, Heidelberg Journal of International Law

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Product details

Published: November 2024
Format: Adobe eBook Reader
ISBN: 9781009488020
Length: 0 pages
Availability: This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

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Contents

1. Introduction: encounters with foreign legal cultures
2. The civil law tradition
3. Germany's plural legal culture
4. Foundations I: legal history
5. Foundations II: political and legal institutions
6. Foundations III: legal education, legal method, legal actors
7. German private law – the civil code
8. German public law – constitutionalism
9. German public law – administrative law
10. German criminal law
11. German procedural law
12. The Europeanization of German law
13. Epilogue: Germany's German law.

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Author

Russell A. Miller , Washington and Lee University, Virginia
Russell A. Miller is the J. B. Stombock Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University. He was the head of the Max Planck Law Network from 2020 to 2022. He is a respected scholar and teacher of comparative law, with an emphasis on German constitutional law. He is a two-time recipient of a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship and he in 2021 he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Prize for his work on German law. He is the co-author of The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany (3rd edition, 2012). In 2002 he graduated with a LL.M. from the University of Frankfurt. From 2000 to 2002 he was a judicial clerk (wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the German Federal Constitutional Court. He is the co-founder and long-serving editor of the German Law Journal.

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