This volume, edited by Eliana Augusti, Norman Domeier, Fritz Georg von Graevenitz, and Markus J. Prutsch, is a compilation of contributions presented at the 15th European Forum of Young Legal Historians, which took place from 1 to 4 April 2009 at the European University Institute in Florence. It covers a range of topics on two main themes. On the one hand, the volume focuses on hierarchies and power structures in legal history and analyses legal historical topics from an inter-, trans- and/or supra-national perspective, transcending the borders of national imagined communities. On the other, contributions specialised on specific national legal cultures look at the interplay between legal and power relations, expressing the mechanism of social inclusion and exclusion. Both approaches demonstrate the nexus between law and power structures in the global history of the last millennia. The Association of Young Legal Historians (www.aylh.org) is an international network of junior researchers interested in interdisciplinary work on legal history. Every year, the AYLH organises the European Forum of Young Legal Historians.

(1979) is Assistant Professor at the University of Stuttgart, Germany.Dr. Eliana Augusti (1980) is Research Associate at the University of Salento, Italy.Dr. Markus J. Prutsch (1981) is Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki, Finland.Dr. Fritz Georg von Graevenitz (1977) is DAAD-Postdoc Fellow.