Comparative Law in a Changing WorldPDF电子书下载

1 INTRODUCING COMPARATIVE LAW 1

Introduction 1

Definitions and derivations 3

Terminology: subject or method? 3

The elements of 'comparative law' 7

Comparative law distinguished from other disciplines 7

Private international law and comparative law 8

Public international law and comparative law 9

Legal history, legal ethnology and comparative law 9

Sociology of law and comparative law 10

A rationale for comparative law 10

The origins of comparative law 11

Early comparative law 11

The roots of comparative law 13

Comparative law in England 16

The contemporary significance of comparative law 18

Functions and purposes of comparative law 18

Comparative law as an academic discipline 18

Comparative law as an academic tradition 19

Using comparative law in research 19

A tool of construction 21

Aid to understanding legal rules 22

The African situation 24

The international law dimension 24

Key concepts in the comparative law method 26

The parent legal family and legal traditions 26

Sources of law 28

Comparative law method 29

Selective bibliography 30

2 THE CLASSIFICATION OF LEGAL SYSTEMS INTO LEGAL FAMILIES 33

Terminology 33

Legal traditions and legal families 33

Classification of legal systems 34

Criteria used to classify legal systems 36

Examination and application of the criteria 36

Historical development 36

Mode of legal thinking 38

Distinctive legal institutions 39

Choice of sources of law 40

Ideology of a legal system 40

Convergence theory and legal unity 41

Selective bibliography 42

3 THE CIVIL LAW SYSTEM 43

Terminology 43

Different meanings of 'civil law' 43

Meaning of codification in the civil law context 46

Historical development of the civil law tradition 47

Roman law and Western civilisation 47

History of French law 59

Structure and overview of the French Civil Code 64

Sources of law 66

Doctrine 67

Status of judicial decisions (jurisprudence) in French law 68

Key features of the French legal system 69

Public and private law 74

Distinctive French legal doctrines and concepts 77

History of German law 79

Application of the BGB 90

Overview of the civil law tradition 95

Selective bibliography 96

4 THE ENGLISH COMMON LAW SYSTEM 99

Introduction 99

Terminology 101

The English common law tradition 102

The common law in the United States 107

Preliminary observations 107

Linguistic issues 108

History of American law: some observations 108

Uniformity and diversity in American law 114

Comparative overview 118

The common law tradition in South East Asia 118

Historical introduction to the English legal world in South East Asia 119

Reception of English law in Singapore and Malaysia 121

Reception of English law in Singapore 122

Reception of English law in Malaysia 123

The common law in India 125

The common law in the Far East: Hong Kong 127

New legislative formula 128

Hong Kong after 1997 129

Can socialism and capitalism co-exist? 131

The future of the common law in Hong Kong 132

Comparative overview 136

Selective bibliography 137

5 EUROPEAN COMMUNITY LAW 139

Introduction 139

Scope of chapter 140

Monism, dualism and accession of Britain 140

The Single European Act 1986 144

The institutional framework of the Community 144

EC institutions and traditional international organisations 145

The Council of Ministers 146

The European Commission 147

The European Parliament 149

The European Court of Justice 150

Difficulties in comparison 156

Comparison of legal style of Community law with other systems 157

The influence of French law 158

The influence of German law 160

The influence of the common law tradition 161

The language of Community law 162

Legislation as language 163

The Community's legal order/regime 164

Nature of Community law 164

Direct applicability and direct effect 165

Supremacy of Community law 168

Community techniques of legal interpretation 169

Distinctive legal institutions/doctrines 170

Choice of sources of law 171

Ideology of the system 172

The Maastrict Treaty 174

The general aims of the Treaty 175

Steps to European Union 175

Subsidiarity 175

European citizenship 176

A single economy 176

Powers of the European Parliament 176

Education 176

Culture 177

Justice and Home Affairs 177

The Social Chapter and social policy 177

Conclusions 178

Selective bibliography 180

6 SOCIALIST LAW AND OTHER TYPES OF LEGAL SYSTEMS 183

Scope of chapter 183

The socialist system and Russia 183

The socialist concept of law 184

Differences between civil law and socialist systems 186

Similarities between civil law and socialist systems 186

Was the socialist system part of the civil law system? 188

Inquest on the Russian Empire 189

The end of the USSR and the new Russian Federation 190

Russian law - return to civil law or hybrid system? 191

Towards a Russian social democratic State? 200

Other recent developments 201

Hybrid legal systems 202

Other types of law 203

Eastern legal conceptions 203

The Chinese conception of law 204

The Japanese conception of law 207

Selective bibliography 212

7 TECHNIQUES OF COMPARATIVE LAW 213

Scope of chapter 213

General considerations 213

Linguistic/terminological problems 214

Cultural differences between systems 216

Arbitrary selection of objects of study 219

'Comparability' in comparison 220

Viability of theory of a common legal pattern 222

Imposition of one's own legal conceptions 223

Omission of extra-legal factors 224

The quest for methodology 225

Introduction 225

Clarifying the general character of comparative law 225

The subject matter of the comparison 226

Macro-comparison and micro-comparison 227

Suitability of topics for micro-comparison 228

Comparative method: requirements 228

The test of functionality 230

The comparative law method 233

A three stage approach 233

A method of comparison: a blueprint 235

Selective bibliography 240

8 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF JUDICIAL STYLES AND CASE LAW 243

The meaning of 'case law' 243

Case law as a source of law 243

Key issues 244

The authority of case law in non-common law jurisdictions 244

The authority of case law in non-common law countries 244

Styles of judicial decisions 247

Appellate court decisions 247

The five styles of judgments 247

Ratio and dicta 248

The French style of judgment 252

The German style of judgment 254

General style of Federal Supreme Court judgments 256

The Swedish type of judgment 258

The relevance of overriding general principles 259

Aequitas 259

Selective bibliography 263

9 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF STATUTORY INTERPRETATION 265

Defining 'statutory interpretation' 265

Defining 'interpretation' 265

General comparative observations 265

Methods/techniques of statutory interpretation 267

Civil law approaches 267

The logical interpretation methodology 267

The legislative history approach 269

The teleological approach 270

Scope and limitations of the teleological approach 270

Common law approaches to statutory interpretation 271

Inadmissible evidence of statutory intent 272

Summary of legislative history position 274

The mischief rule 275

Filling gaps in a statute 277

Other linguistic canons of construction/interpretation 278

Presumptions and precedents 280

Conflict of statutes with other legal principles 281

Scholarly/doctrinal writing in English statutory interpretation 282

Typical structure of English statutes 283

Comparative overview 284

Similarities in approaches between legal systems 285

Common judicial arguments on statutory interpretation 286

Differences in statutory interpretation between the systems 287

Conclusions 290

Selective bibliography 290

10 THE LAW OF OBLIGATIONS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CONTRACT AND TORT 293

Introduction 293

Historical development: a comparative analysis 294

The early Roman law of obligations 294

Contracts 294

Origins of the modern English law of contract 300

Tortious or delictual liability 304

Law of obligations: contract in civil law 308

Tort and contract: contemporary comparative aspects 312

Formation of contracts 312

German law 314

French law 317

German law 318

English law 319

Scope of tortious liability 320

American law 324

Civil law 325

Tort law and traffic accidents 331

French law 331

English law 332

German law 333

Fault in the law of contract and tort 334

Interaction of tort and contract 336

Comparative overview 338

Selective bibliography 339

11 CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL LAW 341

Scope of analysis 341

Problems in comparison of company laws 342

Key conceptual questions 342

Paillusseau's enterprise notion 344

Forms of business organisation: a comparative overview 345

Corporate terminology in France and Germany 345

Companies and contracts 349

Partnership law 351

Company law in France 354

Legislative sources of law 356

Incorporation of a societe 356

Status of a societe pending incorporation 357

SAs and SARLs 357

Societe a responsabilite limitee (SARL) 358

The GIE and the GEIE 359

Company law in Germany 362

Types of business organisation 363

Partnerships and sole traders 364

Sole traders 364

Partnerships 365

The silent partnership 368

Limited companies and public limited companies 368

A comparative overview of agency 371

Historical origins 371

Modern agency law: common law v civil law 373

European Community corporate law 377

The notion of European Community (EC) law 377

The Daily Mail case 378

Non-profit making undertakings 378

Removal of restrictions on freedom of movement 378

Statutory foundations of harmonisation of laws 379

Nature of EC company law 379

Directives already in force in the United Kingdom 380

Comparative corporate law: conclusions 380

Selective bibliography 381

12 SALE OF GOODS 383

Introduction 383

The historical background 384

Sale of goods in Roman law 384

The law merchant 385

Key issues in sales of goods 387

Comparative study of European civil law countries 388

French law 388

German law 394

Remedies of buyer and seller 398

Contributory fault in damages 400

Seller's remedies 402

The English common law approach 404

General 404

Definition of goods under English law 405

Transfer of property and transfer of ownership 406

Transfer of ownership and risk of loss 407

The Romalpa case 415

Effect of the Romalpa case 415

Principle of the Romalpa case 416

Delivery at seller's own risk 417

Duties of buyer and seller 417

Remedies of the buyer and seller 430

The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 434

The uniform laws on international sales 436

Meaning of 'international sale' 437

Sale of goods 438

Validity and passing of property excluded 443

Interpretation of the Convention 443

Ratifications 444

Comparative overview 445

Selective Bibliography 446

13 LABOUR LAW 449

Scope of chapter 449

Historical development 449

Great Britain 449

Germany 452

France 463

Comparative overview 472

Selective bibliography 474

14 A NEW WORLD ORDER? 475

Introduction 475

The significance of legal history 477

A new world order? 478

Global wars and civil strife: historical perspectives 478

Reasons for the transformation of the world order 479

Reasons for the fall of communism in Eastern Europe 480

Theories of convergence 481

Current convergent trends 481

European convergence 482

Philosophies of convergence 485

The jus commune theory 485

Global convergence and the Fukuyama thesis 488

Unification of legal systems 490

Strategies of convergence 490

Legal transplants 491

Natural convergence 491

Convergence and divergence between common law and civil law 492

Convergence between European countries 493

The dawn of a new era in world history 494

Conclusions 495

Selective bibliography 496

Index 499