Legal history is often understood as the study of the origins and development of
particular legal systems. Yet legal-historical scholarship has consistently demonstrated
that no legal system evolves in complete isolation. Across centuries and jurisdictions,
legal institutions, doctrines, and concepts have been borrowed, adapted, imitated,
resisted, and transformed. Sometimes such reception has occurred in a rapid and
comprehensive manner; at other times, it has taken place gradually, subtly, and less
visibly.