rar\’ textbook, the Institutes, which also gi\e iip-to- date law. To he sure, these references to modern changes tend to stress the authors' own local law, hut the hooks were intended for, and had, a much wider audience. I gi\ e a few instances, chosen at random. a) k'irst, Natalis C>hamart, Institutioncs yuris Civilis Script/, ct hoji Script/ collcctacpartimcx tcxtnyustiuiiiJii, purtimcx iisti Bclgii, ' The Institutes of the Cu\ il Law, written and unwritten, collected parti)’ from the text of lustinian, partly from the custom of Belgium' (Louvain, 16S4). So the portions of commentar\’ on modern law relate to the customs of 'Belgium.' What is aho\ e all striking, and is to he found in many other works, is that the space in the text attributed to the written, Roman, law is several times greater than that given to the unwritten, existing, local custom. More was apparentl)’ transplanted from Roman law than was not. And ev en a local custom was often a transplant from another's law." Contrary to accepted doctrine, customar)’ law often does not reflect what is customarily done." b) d'he Saxon Samuel Strvkius' (1674-1749) Iiistitutiouuni l.ihri Qjuittuor 'x's, also garnished with notes giv ing the up-to-date local law. N’aturallv’ the emphasis, usually hut by no means exclusively, is on the law of Saxony. .Again, the discussion of local law is meager; most notes explain the text of Justinian. \\ hat must he emphasized is that the hook circulated far outside of Saxony: indeed it is among the commonest law hooks of the time. I'or the practicing lawyer outside of Saxony, the hook (and others) had a particular value; it would alert him to the fact that the Roman rule was not universally accepted, and would prov ide him with an argument. c) Ulrich I luher's Positioner yuris, secundum Institutioncs ct Pundcctas (first edition, 1682) includes the modern law within the hodv’ of 13 See, e.g., Alan Watson. Sources ofLaw. Legal Change and (Philadelphia, 1984), pp. 25ff. 14 See Watson, Evolution, pp. 9iff. 107
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