Comparative_Law_and_Legal_History

Com parative Law and LegalHistory

Dieter Simon, ‘Zwillingsschwestern oder Stammesbrüder oder What is What?’, (1992) 11 Rechtshistorisches Journal 574 ff

Alan Watson, Legal Transplants: An Approach to Comparative Law (2nd edn, 1993)

William Ewald, ‘What Was It Like to Try a Rat?’ (1995) 143 Pennsylvania LR 1189 ff

Konrad Zweigert and Hein Kötz, Einführung in die Rechtsvergleichung (3rd edn, 1996;

English translation under the title An Introduction to Comparative Law by Tony Weir, 3rd edn, 1996)

Reinhard Zimmermann, ‘Savigny's Legacy: Legal History, Comparative Law, and the Emergence of a European Legal Science’, (1996) 112 LQR 576 ff

Albrecht Cordes, ‘Was erwartet die (mittelalterliche) Rechtsgeschichte von der Rechtsvergleichung und anderen vergleichend arbeitenden Disziplinen?’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 545 ff

William Ewald, ‘Legal History and Comparative Law’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 553 ff

Michele Graziadei, ‘Comparative Law, Legal History, and the Holistic Approach to Legal Cultures’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 531 ff

David Johnston, ‘Roman Law, Comparative Law and Legal History’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 560 ff

Klaus Luig, ‘Was kann die Rechtsgeschichte der Rechtsvergleichung bieten?’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 521

Matthias Reimann, ‘Rechtsvergleichung und Rechtsgeschichte im Dialog’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 496 ff

Reinhard Zimmermann, Roman Law, Contemporary Law, European Law: The Civilian Tradition Today (2001)

James Gordley, ‘Why Look Backward’, (2002) 50 AJCL 657 ff

Michele Graziadei, ‘The Functionalist Heritage’, in Pierre Legrand and Roderick Munday (eds), Comparative Legal Studies: Traditions and Transitions (2003), 100 ff

Pierre Legrand, ‘The Same and the Different’, in Pierre Legrand and Roderick Munday (eds), Comparative Legal Studies: Traditions and Transitions (2003), 240 ff

James Gordley, The Foundations of Private Law (2006)

Notes:

(1)Matthias Reimann, ‘Rechtsvergleichung und Rechtsgeschichte im Dialog’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 496.

(2)Charles H. Haskins, The Twelfth Century Renaissance (1957), 204–5.

(3)Petrarch, Epistolae de rebus familiaribus et variae (ed J. Fracassetti, 1859–63, vol III), 14–15, quoted in Myron Piper Gilmore, ‘The Renaissance Conception of the Lessons of History’, in Myron Piper Gilmore, Humanists and Jurists: Six Studies in the Renaissance (1963), 30.

(4)Jean Bodin, ‘Praefatio’, Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem (1610), 11.

(5)Klaus-Peter Nanz, Die Entstehung des allgemeinen Vertragsbegriffs im 16. bis 18. Jahrhundert (1985), 85.

(6)Helmut Coing, Europäisches Privatrecht (vol I, 1985), 401.

(7)Dieter Simon, ‘Zwillingsschwestern oder Stammesbrüder oder What is What?’, (1992) 11 Rechtshistorisches Journal

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574, 579.

(8)David Daube, ‘Nocere and Noxa’, (1939) 8 Cambridge LJ 23, 26.

(9)David Daube, ‘Generalisations in D. 18.1, de contrahenda emptione’, in Studi in onore di Vincenzo Arangio Ruiz (vol I, 1952), 185.

(10)David Daube, ‘Societas as Consensual Contract’, (1938) 6 Cambridge LJ 381, 396.

(11)Ibid 397.

(12)Alan Watson, The Making of Civil Law (1981).

(13)John P. Dawson, Oracles of the Law (1968); Peter Stein, Roman Law in European History (1999).

(14)Helmut Coing, Handbuch der Quellen und Literatur der neueren europäischen Privatrechtsgeschichte (1973).

(15)Stephan Kuttner, A Catalogue of Canon and Roman Law Manuscripts in the Vatican Library (1986).

(16)Gero Dolezalek, Repertorium manuscriptorum veterum Codicis Iustiniani (1986).

(17)Helmut Coing, Europäisches Privatrecht (vol I, 1985; vol II, 1989).

(18)Franz Wieacker, Privatrechtsgeschichte der Neuzeit unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der deutschen Entwicklung (2nd edn, 1967; English trans under the title A History of Private Law in Europe by Tony Weir, 1995).

(19)Paolo Grossi organized a conference on the Spanish scholastics in Florence, October 1972. One of the most notable papers was by Robert Feenstra, ‘Lʼinfluence de la scolastique espagnole sur Grotius en droit privé’, in Paolo Grossi (ed), La seconda scolastica nella formazione del diritto privato moderno (1973), 377. See also Stein (n 12), 94–6; James Gordley, The Philosophical Origins of Modern Contract Law (1991), 69–111.

(20)Harold J. Berman, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition (1983); see Stein (n 12), 49–

52.

(21)Stephan Kuttner, Kanonistische Schuldlehre von Gratian bis auf die Dekretalen Gregors IX: systematisch auf Grund der handschriftlichen Quellen dargestellt (1935).

(22)Frederick Pollock and Frederic William Maitland, The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I (2nd edn, 1898) (written largely by Maitland).

(23)Frederic William Maitland, ‘Why the History of English Law is Not Written’, in Herbert A.L. Fisher (ed), The Collected Papers of Frederick William Maitland (vol I, 1911; reproduction Buffalo, 1981), 480, 484.

(24)Charles Donahue, Why the History of Canon Law is Not Written (1986), 6.

(25)Alfred William Brian Simpson, ‘Innovation in Nineteenth Century Contract Law’, (1975) 91 LQR 247; Gordley (n 18), 134–60; James Gordley, ‘The Common Law in the 20th Century: Some Unfinished Business’, (2000) 88 California LR 1817.

(26)René David and John E. C. Brierley, Major Legal Systems in the World Today: An Introduction to the Comparative Study of Law (2nd edn, 1978), 2–3.

(27)Corps législatif, ‘Discours prononcé par Portalis, séance du 23 frimaire, an X’ (14 December 1801), in Pierre Antoine Fenet (ed), Recueil complet des travaux preparatories du Code civil (vol VI, 1827), 269.

(28)‘Discours préliminaire prononcé lors de la présentation du projet de la Commission du gouvernement’, in Fenet,

Recueil complet des travaux (n 27, vol I), 471.

(29)See James Gordley, ‘Myths of the French Civil Code’, (1994) 42 AJCL 459, 484–92.

(30)‘Über den Zweck dieser Zeitschrift’, (1829) 1 Kritische Zeitschrift für Rechtswissenschaft und Gesetzgebung des Auslands 1.

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(31)‘Über Zweck und Mittel der vergleichenden Rechtswissenschaft’, (1878) 1 Zeitschrift für vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft 1, 37–8.

(32)Konrad Zweigert and Hein Kötz, An Introduction to Comparative Law (trans Tony Weir, 3rd edn, 1998) 58.

(33)David and Brierley (n 26), 3.

(34)(7th edn, 1978).

(35)Ibid 20.

(36)David and Brierley (n 26), 21.

(37)David (n 34), 22.

(38)Zweigert and Kotz (n 32), 64.

(39)Pierre Arminjon, Boris E. Nolde, and Martin Wolff, Traité de droit comparé (vol I, 1950), 47.

(40)The most accessible source is Rodolfo Sacco, ‘Legal Formants: A Dynamic Approach to Comparative Law’, (1991) 39 AJCL 1.

(41)Simpson, (1975) 91 LQR 247; Gordley (n 19), 134–60.

(42)Watson (n 12).

(43)Reinhard Zimmermann, The Law of Obligations: Roman Foundations of the Civilian Tradition (1990; paperback edn, 1996).

(44)Ibid 33–4.

(45)Hein Kotz, European Contract Law (vol I, 1997).

(46)See James Gordley, ‘Impossibility and Changed Circumstances’, (2004) 52 AJCL 602.

(47)Michele Graziadei, ‘Comparative Law, Legal History, and the Holistic Approach to Legal Cultures’, (1999) 7

Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 531, 538.

(48)Ibid.

(49)See Pierre Legrand, ‘European Systems are not Converging’, (1996) 46 ICLQ 52, 78; Pierre Legrand, ‘The Same and the Different’, in Pierre Legrand and Roderick Munday (eds), Comparative Legal Studies: Traditions and Transitions (2003), 240.

(50)Law of 3 January 1968, now Art 489 al 2 Code civil (lunatics); Cour de cassation, Ass plén, 9. 5. 1984 (4th case), D 1984, Jur, 29 (minors).

(51)William Ewald, ‘Legal History and Comparative Law’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 553, 556.

(52)Wieacker (n 18), 249.

(53)Ewald, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 556. He develops this position at length in William Ewald, ‘What Was It Like to Try a Rat?’ (1995) 143 Pennsylvania LR 1189, although I think the example of trials of animals is not well chosen. The few references to such trials may have been elaborate jokes. In any case, to deem an animal guilty of a crime was contrary to the moral and theological conceptions of the time.

(54)Gordley (n 19), 30–68.

(55)Friedrich Carl von Savigny, System des heutigen Römischen Rechts (vol I, 1840), § 8.

(56)Ibid, § 52.

(57)Wieacker (n 18), 353, 387, 431.

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(58)See Gordley (n 19), 226–7.

(59)Savigny (n 55, vol III), § 114.

(60)William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner, ‘Salvors, Finders, Good Samaritans and Other Rescuers: An Economic Study of Law and Altruism’, (1978) 7 Journal of Legal Studies 83; Francis H. Buckley ‘Three Theories of Substantive Fairness’, (1990) 19 Hofstra LR 33, 40–8.

(61)See Ronald Coase, ‘The Problem of Social Cost’, (1960) 3 Journal of Law and Economics 1, and the endless discussion that article triggered.

(62)Saul Levmore, ‘Explaining Restitution’, (1985) 71 Virginia LR 65, 69.

(63)Morton J. Horwitz, The Transformation of American Law 1780–1860 (1977), 164–9.

(64)Ibid 920

(65)Ibid 31.

(66)James Willard Hurst, Law and the Conditions of Freedom in the Nineteenth-Century United States (1956).

(67)Jacob Houdyn Beekhuis, ‘Civil Law’, in International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, vol VI, chapter 2 (1973), 3,

18.

(68)Michael Harwood, Modern English Land Law (2nd edn, 1982), 503; Edward Hector Burn, Cheshire and Burn's Modern Law of Real Property (16th edn, 2000), 26–7; Robert Megarry and HenryWilliam Rawson Wade, The Law of Real Property (5th edn, 1984), 104, 106.

(69)See eg Gabriel Marty and Pierre Raynaud, Droit civil: Les Biens (2nd edn, 1980), § 14, 14–15; Alex Weill, François Terré, and Philippe Simler, Droit civil: Les Biens (3rd edn, 1985), § 54, 63–4; § 55, 64–5; Henri Mazeaud, Léon Mazeaud, Jean Mazeaud, and François Chabas, Leçons de droit civil, vol II: Biens Droit de propriété et ses démembrements (8th edn, 1994), §§ 1413–14, 190–1. Elmar Bund, in J. von Staudingers Kommentar zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch (rev edn 2000), vor § 854 n 36; Detlev Joost in Münchener Kommentar zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch (vol VI, 4th edn, 2004), vor § 854 n 10; Karl Heinz Schwab and Hanns Prutting, Sachenrecht (31st edn, 2003), para 49.

(70)James Gordley and Ugo Mattei, ‘Protecting Possession’, (1996) 44 AJCL 293, 319–29.

(71)Frederick Pollock and Robert S. Wright, An Essay on Possession in the Common Law (1888) (Pollock wrote Parts I and II in which this theory is presented; Wright wrote Part III).

(72)Frederick Pollock, A First Book of Jurisprudence for Students of the Common Law (1896), 179.

(73)Hadley v Baxendale (1854) 9 Ex 341.

(74)Art 1150 Code civil.

(75)See Art 1225 Codice civile; Art 1107 (Spanish) Código civil.

(76)Protokolle der Kommission für die zweite Lesung des Entwurfs des Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuchs (vol II, 1897), 292 (relating to § 218 of the First Draft).

(77)§ 254 II BGB.

(78)Art 74 CISG.

(79)Art 7.4.4 PICC.

(80)Art 9:503 PECL.

(81)(1854) 9 Ex 341.

(82)Zimmermann (n 43), 829–30.

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(83)Hadley v Baxendale may itself have been such a case. According to the headnote, the shipper, hired to transport a broken mill shaft, had been told that he must do so quickly since the mill was shut down. For an American example, see Lamkins v Internatʼl Harvester Co, 182 2d 203 (Arkansas 1944), where a farmer was denied lost profits when an inexpensive device designed to allow him to harvest at night malfunctioned. Interestingly, while the foreseeability rule is endorsed by the Restatement (Second) of Contracts (1981), the Restatement explains both this case and Hadley by mentioning ‘the extreme disproportion’ between the ‘loss of profits’ and ‘the [contract] price’. Ibid, Illustrations 17 & 18 to § 351. French courts say that there is no liability if the kind of harm that might occur can be foreseen but its extent cannot. Significantly, they have done so in cases in which the harm greatly exceeds the contract price. See eg Cass civ, 3. 8. 1932, D 1932.572 (racehorse dies); Cass civ, 7. 7. 1924, D 1927, I, 119 (contents of lost box particularly valuable); Cass civ 1re, 11. 5. 1982, Gaz Pal 1982, 2, 612 (owner loses rentals when contractor's employee sets fire to his roof with a blowtorch). For German cases in which disproportion, rather than foreseeability, seems to matter, see OLG Hamm, 28 February 1989, [1989] Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 2006 (a translator supposedly could not foresee that his error would make the translation unusable, yet the court noted the damages were forty times his fee); BGH, 29 January 1969, [1969] Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 789, translated in Basil S. Markesinis, Werner Lorenz, and Gerhard Dannemann, The German Law of Obligations, (vol I, 1997), 320–3 (hotel garage not liable for theft of jewellery in trunk of car, although, had the owner said that it was there, the theft would have been even more likely). See James Gordley, ‘The Foreseeability Limitation on Liability in Contract’, in Arthur S. Hartkamp and Christian von Bar (eds), Towards a European Civil Code (3rd edn, 2004), 215.

(84)Zimmermann (n 42), 327.

(85)Ibid.

(86)Grant Gilmore, The Death of Contract (1974), 6.

(87)A. W. B. Simpson, ‘The Horwitz Thesis and the History of Contracts’, (1979) 46 University of Chicago LR 533, 536–

8.

(88)Indeed, the generic sale of goods had been recognized for centuries. Wolfgang Ernst, ‘Kurze Rechtsgeschichte des Gattungskauf’, (1999) 7 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 583.

(89)Aldred's Case (1611) 9 Coke's King's Bench Report 57 (b), 77 ER 816; Jones v Powell (1628) Palmer's King's Bench Reports 536, 81 ER 1208.

(90)Ulpian D. 8, 5, 8, 5.

James Gordley

James Gordley is Shannon Cecil Turner Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, where he has taught since 1978. He specializes in comparative law, and is the author of The Enforceability of Promises in European Contract Law (Cambridge University Press, 2001) and The Philosophical Origins of Modern Contract Doctrine (Oxford University Press, 1991).

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