Comparative Law, Legal Transplants and Legal Change

Secured transactions and patterns of legal change: the contribution of comparative law

Uniform Law Review ◽

10.1093/ulr/unaa020 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Francesca Fiorentini

Keyword(s):

Comparative Law ◽

Legal Change ◽

Positive Law ◽

Secured Transactions ◽

The Many ◽

Law Making

Abstract The article analyses the many actors and initiatives that, in the last decades, have pursued the goal of worldwide harmonization of secured transaction laws, scrutinizing the achievements and the limits of these experiments. In light of such results, the article also outlines the methodological contribution that comparative law can offer to legal change in the sector of secured transactions law, by way of confronting positive law models with meta-legal elements such as culture, society, economy, law-making processes, and geopolitics.

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Formants and Institutions: Intellectual Meeting Points between Rodolfo Sacco and Douglass North

Global Jurist ◽

10.2202/1934-2640.1386 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Irene Biglino

Keyword(s):

Institutional Economics ◽

Comparative Law ◽

Legal Consciousness ◽

Methodological Pluralism ◽

Legal Change ◽

Economic Discourse ◽

Distinctive Features ◽

Convergence And Divergence ◽

The One ◽

Douglass North

In the present paper, I attempt to unearth what I believe to be an extremely valuable, implicit dialogue between legal and economic discourse through an analysis of the contributions by two leading figures in the fields of comparative law and institutional economics, respectively: Rodolfo Sacco and Douglass North. By closely comparing two apparently far removed intellectual trajectories, I will sketch the manner in which the two scholars come to terms with the concept of change in their respective disciplines. How is legal change, on the one hand, and economic change, on the other hand, explained? I will examine how North addresses the question “why do economies perform differently through space and time?” and review Sacco’s inquires upon convergence and divergence in legal systems with different institutional premises. Once the distinctive features of the two theses have been outlined against the backdrop of the latter questions, I will identify intellectual meeting points, common threads, and parallel tracks drawing the scholars together. In the spirit of methodological pluralism, I will conclude by suggesting that a combined reading of the theses under scrutiny may provide a practical template for thinking about questions of legal change, legal transplants, and the diffusion of legal consciousness.

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Shattering Myths: The Curious History of the Bulgarian Law of Obligations

Studia Iuridica ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0013.9793 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 82 ◽

pp. 309-327

Author(s):

Radosveta Vassileva

Keyword(s):

Comparative Research ◽

Legal History ◽

Comparative Law ◽

Communist Country ◽

Legal Change ◽

Legal Scholar ◽

Legal Text ◽

History Of ◽

Legislative Choice

While Bulgarian scholars concur that Bulgaria’s Law of Obligations and Contracts, which was enacted in 1950 and which is still in force today following cosmetic changes in the early 1990s, is an original Bulgarian legal text, archival and comparative research shows that it is heavily based on the Italian Codice Civile of 1942. Why would a communist country seek inspiration in a country with a Fascist ideology? Exploring the reasons behind this legislative choice as well as the reasons why this ‘dark’ secret was buried for so long challenges traditional taxonomies of comparative law, reveals the peculiar patterns of legal change, including the key role of the legal scholar in the process, and demonstrates the power of comparative law in shattering myths in legal history.

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Comparative Law and Legal Change

The Cambridge Law Journal ◽

10.1017/s0008197300093338 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 313-336 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Alan Watson

Keyword(s):

Comparative Law ◽

Social Activities ◽

Legal Change ◽

Legal Rules ◽

Long Life

Law, of course, exists in society and for society's needs. It is a man-made construct to facilitate social activities. Law is inconceivable without society. Societies vary greatly, and so do legal rules. A perennial question is “Do legal rules reflect a society's desires, needs and aspirations?” The answer which is ordinarily given or is just assumed is positive though minor qualifications are usually urged. And yet, the two most startling, and at the same time most obvious, characteristics of legal rules are the apparent ease with which they can be transplanted from one system or society to another, and their capacity for long life. With transmission or the passing of time modifications may well occur, but frequently the alterations in the rules have only limited significance.

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