Gustav Hugo (1764-1844) was the founder of the Historical School of legal science in Germany. His early efforts took place against the backdrop of Romanticism and were later continued by, amongst others, Savigny. Members of the Historical School aimed to identify the “spirit of the people” (Volksgeist). This volume was one of the products of the Historical School. It offered a tool to understand the history of Roman law within the German context. The collection of accounts by the Brothers Grimm was, likewise, an answer to the call to identify the spirit of the German people through fairy tales. It is further important to note that this early understanding of the Volksgeist as debated by the Historical School and sought after by the Grimm brothers was very different from the ideas of Volksgeist put forward during the National Socialist period in Germany a century later.