constitutions and codifications, 1667–2017 Perhaps. We have to consider the experience of codification practices over200 years – and not least the important tradition of legislative ideology and practice. The strong common Nordic legislative tradition in the area of private law has historically functioned as a substitute for coherent private law codification. Nor should we forget that in common law countries such as the UKand the US, most of the private law has introduced systematic legislative forms. The differences in Europe should not be exaggerated. The common effect of the last 350 years of methodical, material private law thinking and legislation has been a profound strengthening of the model of systematic private law legislation, either in the classical private law code or in long-term comprehensive legislation. This observation makes it easier to proceed to a more systemic civil code on a European level, if that is politically and culturally to be wished. From codifications to constitutions, and my aim is to present some methodological reflections on the discipline of constitutional history.18 The theme is vast, and my take on it will be personal – rather than a neutral activity, historical research on constitutions is often conducted within a contentious political-cultural space that gives the research certain contemporary connotations, and is more often the case with constitutions than with civil codification. The researcher has to develop certain methodological strategies that ultimately concern the kind of research a contemporary law faculty ought to carry out, as will be seen. My remarks are also based upon my experience of working in the research group for legal history at the Oslo faculty of law. Since 2011 the group has had several projects on constitutional history and the history of international law. The bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution of 1814 was something of a blessing for Norwegian legal historians, as it 18 For what follows, see Eirik Holmøyvik &Dag Michalsen, Lærebok i forfatningshistorie (Oslo: Pax, 2015); eid., ‘Constitutional history’, in David S Law &Malcolm Langford (eds.), ResearchMethods in Constitutional Law:AHandbook(forthcoming); and above all Michael Stolleis, Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsgeschichte: Materialen, Methodik, Fragestellungen(Munich: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2017). 337 Methodological reflections
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