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