Full Description
Donations, Inheritance and Property in the Nordic and Western World from Late Antiquity until Today presents an examination of Nordic donation and gift-giving practices in the Nordic and Western world, beginning in late Antiquity and extending through to the present day. Through chapters contributed by leading international researchers, this book explores the changing legal, social and religious frameworks that shape how donations and gifts are given.
In addition to donations to ecclesiastical, charitable and cultural institutions, this books also highlights the sociolegal challenges and the tensions that can occur as a result of transferring property, including answering key questions such as who has a right to what. It also presents, for the first time, an insight into the dynamics of donations and the interplay between individual motivations, strategic behaviour and the legal setting of inheritance law.
Offering a broad chronological and European perspective and including a wide range of illuminating case studies Donations, Inheritance and Property in the Nordic and Western World from Late Antiquity until Today is ideal for students of Nordic and European legal and social history.
Contents
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of Contributors
Introduction
Ole-Albert Rønning, Helle Møller Sigh, Helle Vogt
Gift-Giving and Inheritance in Late Roman Law and Legal Practice Caroline Humfress
The Jurisprudence of the Forced Share in the Ancient World: Cicero to Justinian Charles J. Reid, Jr.
The Jurisprudence of the Forced Share: The High and Late Middle Ages Charles J. Reid, Jr.
Inheritance in the Lands of the Loire, 1050-1200: A Contrast to Nordic and Roman Practice Amy Livingstone
Protecting the Individual, the Kin and the Soul: Donation Regulations in Danish and Norwegian Medieval Legislation Helle Vogt
By Love and by Law: Choices of Female Donors in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Sweden Anu Lahtinen
Gender and Donation Culture in Icelandic from c. 1300-1600 Agnes S. Arnórsdóttir
Luther's Last Will and the Invention of Testamentary Freedom Mathias Schmoeckel
Pious Donations: The Act of Giving in the Lutheran Church and its Spatial Implications Martin Wangsgaard Jürgensen
The Business of Charity and the Charity of Business: Donations in the Norwegian merchant town of Bergen in the seventeenth and eighteenth century Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde
"Immortal mother and benefactor": Honorable Dwellings for Unmarried Gentlewomen and the Dynamics of Donations among the Danish Elite from 1699 to 1745 Helle Møller Sigh
The Age of Miracles? Alms Culture and Charitable Donations in Copenhagen, c. 1770-1830 Peter Wessel Hansen
How to Exchange with the Dead: The significance of heirlooms in contemporary Danish inheritance practices Bodil Selmer
Gifts to, from, and between Spouses: Present Regulation in the Nordic Countries John Asland
Index
