本書內容分成兩部，前十章以宏觀角度介紹影響大陸法傳統的整體性因素，並討論上述因素對其法律職業的影響。第十一章至第十八章則具體而微，分就個別法領域細述；最後兩章進行回顧與展望，以收提綱挈領之效。約莫百頁的篇幅，初學法律之人已能對所身處的大陸法傳統大致掌握。
本書特色之一，是將盛行歐洲、拉丁美洲的大陸法傳統，細分為五個歷史脈絡進行梳理，同時以極富思辯性的筆觸，指出各自盲點的所在。而作者出身英美法傳統，卻能透過法律職業的穿針引線，以生動平易文字與普通法傳統對照比較，使非法律背景之讀者亦能進入其筆下所描繪的世界。本中譯版本更收錄多篇當今世界專家學者序文，以及原著作者的專文推薦，世代之間的經典對話，殊值細究體驗，品味再三。
The work divides itself into two parts. The first ten chapters introduce the structural elements of the civil law tradition from a holistic perspective. Chapter 11 to 18, in contrast, emphasizes the details on respective areas of law. With the last two chapters as retrospect and future speculations, beginners in law will soon acquire a general picture of the world of civil law tradition.
The book on the civil law tradition features its separate scenarios based on the division of five sub-traditions with critical views pointing to historical incidents leading to possible irrationalities. Despite their common-law background, the authors manage to take legal professions, weaving in and out between different legal traditions, presenting high readability with elegance and brevity. Additional prefaces to this translated version tends to offer dialogues among generations on everlasting worthwhile topics.
作者簡介：
約翰‧亨利‧梅利曼（John Henry Merryman, 1920-2015），著名比較法學者，美國史丹福法學院名譽教授，其經典著作為《大陸法傳統》。
羅赫理歐‧培瑞茲－帕德莫（Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo），卡拉卡斯（委內瑞拉）都會大學法學院名譽院長及法學院教授、美國史丹福大學法學院客座教授、委內瑞拉國家歷史學會成員。
譯者簡介：
藍元駿，臺灣大學法學博士。現為中國文化大學法律學系教授，法學院比較法研究中心主任。
元駿正在構思編纂一部多功能的比較法學辭典，並認為譯介人文社會經典是其第一步。近年相關譯作：《大陸法傳統》（2020）、《美國法制概述》（2019）、《國際租稅入門》（2018）、《資本主義經濟學及其社會學──熊彼德論文選集》（2017）、《租稅正義與人權保障──葛克昌教授祝壽論文集》（2016）。
Mr. Yuan-Chun (Martin) LAN, LL.B (NTU), LL.M (NTU), PhD (NTU), Postdoc (NTU), is a professor of law. He has founded and is currently the director of Center of Comparative Jurisprudence in College of Law of Chinese Culture University in Taiwan.
Martin has a dream, which is to compile a set of multilingual, interdisciplinary legal thesaurus. He begins its realization by translating classic works, his recent publications include: John Henry Merryman& Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo, The Civil Law Tradition—An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Europe and Latin America, Stanford University Press, (forthcoming); E. Allan Farnsworth, An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States, Oxford University Press (2019); Brian Arnold & Michael McIntyre, International Tax Primer, Wolters Kluwer (2018); Joseph Schumpeter’s Anthology, The Capitalism of Economics and Sociology, Princeton University Press (2017); and monographs in: Tax Justice and Protection of Human Rights—a Festschrift for Professor Gee Keh-Chang, Sharing Publishing (2016).