Acknowledgements For many, writing a dissertation is solitary work. Fortunately, this has not been my case, for all these years I have been lucky enough to work as a member of the small but dynamic community of legal historians at the University of Helsinki. In addition to being colleagues, these people have become my close friends. The significance of this factor cannot be overestimated. The theme of this study was first suggested to me by Professor Heikki Ylikangas. In the last fewyears, I have greatly benefited frommy discussions with this radiant teacher and admirable researcher who, every time I have asked for help, has had the patience to listen to my sometimes far-fetched ideas and to criticize them. Professors John Langbein and Kevät Nousiainen were kind enough to accept the task of acting as public examiners of the dissertation version of this book. John Langbein provided me with invaluable criticism and some lessons in legal history that I will never forget. Without doubt, his brief visit to Finland was a success. For many years, I have had the chance to benefit from Kevät Nousiainen’s great insight into matters of law and legal history. I thank her for all her wise words and recipes. I amparticularly pleased to acknowledge my gratitude to Docent Pia LettoVanamo. I owe to her a great deal of what I have learned of Western legal history during this process. Our innumerable discussions on the past, present and future of legal history have been invaluable to me. Docent Anu Pylkkänen, another close working partner of mine throughout these years, deserves to be thanked for her unfailing support. With her daily encouragement, I have been able to continue even though I was sometimes almost ready to quit. By struggling through an early manuscript of this study, both Pia Letto-Vanamo and Anu Pylkkänen significantly contributed to my finishing it. The efficient and knowledgeable work of Professor Jukka Kekkonen and Kevät Nousiainen as the pre-examiners of this work made it progress rapidly. Additionally, I thank Jukka Kekkonen for sharing my interest in the Hispanic world. I take the opportunity to express my gratitude to all the friends in Buenos Aires who made our 1992-1993 stay in that mythical city so unforgettable. I would especially like to mention Victor Tau Anzoategui, Gaston and Lourdes Doucet, Abelardo Levaggi, José Eduardo Corbetta, Nilda Giannetti, and Nélida Liparoti. I learned a lot from all of them. The institutional conditions for this fruitful period of my work were provided for by the University of Belgrano and the Instituto de Investigaciones de Historia del Derecho. Thank you. Virginia Nikkilä efficiently conducted the task of revising the English of my
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