European rulers could not impose Roman law wholesale on fragmented polities.

Evidence

Because of the political fragmentation in Europe, rulers were rarely in a position to impose much law on anyone. In addition, societal changes had rendered parts of the Roman law obsolete—for example, those sections dealing with slavery. Other elements of the Roman law—for example, family law—were already dealt with by the Canon law established by the Catholic Church. As a result, the law that came to prevail in Europe also reflected local, non-Roman sources. Nevertheless, jurists and practitioners alike drew their conceptions of law, as well as their legal terminology and their approach to legal reasoning, from the tradition of Roman law. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 130

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Globalization is narrowing the common-law and civil-law divide.; Premodern Islamic governance could not suspend its law under any exception; European powers could not effectively colonize vast domains until the mid-nineteenth century — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 53

Broader Connections

• European powers could not effectively colonize vast domains until the mid-nineteenth century #corroborates (0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 53
• Premodern Islamic governance could not suspend its law under any exception #corroborates (0.72)