In the age of global, transnational and connected history, is it possible to write a history of rights that is free of the Eurocentric viewpoint that has structured so many so-called « universal » histories since the 19th century? And how can we account for the development of law without lapsing into the classical discourse celebrating a supposedly uniform and unilinear progress?
This book takes up this dual challenge, taking us from the many inventions of law in antiquity (notably in China and Rome) to contemporary tensions linked to the rise of regional or transnational law. With a clear and pedagogical approach to the multiple dynamics of the circulation, confrontation and globalization of law, in particular through European colonization and its violence, it highlights the dual political nature of legal techniques: instruments of domination, but also weapons of defense and contestation.
At the cutting edge of international research in comparative law, this vast fresco is nonetheless a lively and accessible general introduction to law, its history and its many social and political roles.
