This volume is the first anthology to address the topic of the regulae iuris, or maxims of law, from a uniform methodological point of view. It approaches the regulae iuris as a dynamic system with an ever-evolving structure. The contributors of this volume, being among the leading experts in the field, look at the regulae both in their essence and in their expanding interrelationships, taking account of their changing social and cultural contexts. This volume places the crystallisation and evolution of legal rules within a history of ideas, spanning a wide historical period and going beyond the narrow confines of the history of legal thought.

Contributors are: Ilya A. Kotlyar, Adolfo Giuliani, Maria Kola, David Deroussin, Piotr Alexandrowicz, Ger Coffey, Harry Dondorp, Emanuel G.D. van Dongen, and James R. Gordley.