Giuliani on Past, Pastness, and the Broad Present: Changing Images of Time in Legal History

Adolfo Giuliani, Infolaw Research Project, is publishing Past, Pastness and the Broad Present: Changing Images of Time in Legal History in Law and Spatio-Temporal Dimensions (S. Zorzetto, P. de Lucia, P. Heritier et al., Springer, 2025). Here is the abstract.

"How does the past relate to the present, how does being connect to becoming?" This question confronted legal history when it emerged as an academic discipline in early nineteenth-century Germany. Its significance reverberated throughout legal science -- but provoking three successive responses, which this paper categorises as past, pastness, and broad-present. (i) In the nineteenth century, scholars viewed the past as a pristine ideal to be reconstructed for guidance, its unbreakable connection to the present forming a cornerstone of legal science. (ii) The twentieth century, influenced by scientific and philosophical breakthroughs, saw past and present merge into a "pastness" that encompassed collective experiences and reflected a new understanding of law-making. (iii) The twenty-first century has expanded this temporal awareness into what scholars call a "broad present" or "long-now"-which at any given time individuals try to make present (or represent) again.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.