The Italian original of this book, Che cos'è il diritto privato?, is widely recognized as an influential treatise on the basic methods of legal science, introduces the student to the main institutions and theories of Italian and European Private law, as well as to the basic ideas and principles related to the concept, function and purpose of Italian and European Private law. In translation, this book thus provides any reader with the perspective of the Italian student of law on the ideas that have shaped legal practice in Italy and on the continent of Europe. Its unique value lies in the fact that it is not a gloss, not secondary literature, not an interpretation and not a summary—it is a direct, primary source made available to readers in the English language for the first time.