part iv • intellectual legal history • søren koch The primary aim of compilations seems to have been to further the dissemination of legal knowledge and promote a more consistent application of the law. However, by doing so, compilers also contributed to create an intellectual framework with which lawyers could critically evaluate ideas, theories, and, where necessary, even the content of legal rules to make them fit the requirements of the local legal environment. It was common for compilers to make deliberate choices about which material to compile, how to present it and to what extent to modify it. Consequently, collecting texts and text fragments and writing them into new formats contributed to forming a canon of legal texts, both domestically and internationally. This was true on the deeper levels of the law too. Compilations laid the groundwork for new methodological approaches and facilitated the introduction of new ideals of justice, which eventually could change the perception of the law’s purpose, function, and effect. A shared understanding among lawyers and a common value base were preconditions for the emergence of a national legal science. Equally important was the impact compilations had on legal practitioners and the application of the law. In the absence of a self-sustaining legal science in Denmark and Norway in the eighteenth century, the interplay between ‘law in books’, ‘law in action’, and ‘law in minds’ may prove decisive for our understanding of why Nordic legal cultures adopted a pragmatic approach to law and remained relatively open to external influences. Creative compilation was a highly efficient strategy when adapting to social change or integrating foreign impulses without risk of censorship. Further research will be necessary if we are fully to gauge the complex phenomenon of compilation and its impact on Nordic legal cultures. Analysing specific cases of compilation in greater detail will allow us to identify the function and impact of compilation more precisely. A comparative analysis of parallel developments in other peripheral legal cultures such as Sweden–Finland, Scotland, etc. is highly desirable and could further enhance our understanding of the impact of compilation on the 228 Compilations, legal culture, and legal science
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