this volume provides the first sustained treatment of the legal theory of eduard gans (1789--1839) and the first translation of ganss systems of roman civil law in outline (1827). hegels close personal friend and recognized leader of the hegelian movement, gans posthumously edited hegels philosophy of law and philosophy of history. as professor of law in berlin, gans championed legal codification in opposition to savigny and the historical school of jurisprudence. hoffheimer argues that ganss legal writings, especially his systematic exposition of roman law, combined a brilliant application of romanist legal scholarship with a creative, original vision of hegelian methodology. the teacher of karl marx and felix mendelssohn, gans promoted a liberal interpretation of hegel and influenced an important generation of german thinkers.