Overview

Placed uniquely at the intersection of common law and civil law, mixed legal systems are today attracting the attention both of scholars of comparative law, and of those concerned with the development of a European private law. Pre-eminent among the mixed legal systems are those of Scotland and South Africa. In South Africa the Roman-Dutch law, brought to the Cape by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 was, from the early nineteenth century onwards, infused with and re-moulded by the common law of the British imperial master. In Scotland a more gradual and elusive process saw the Roman-Scots law of the early modern period fall under the influence of English law after the Act of Union in 1707. The result, in each case, was a system of law which drew from both of the great European traditions whilst containing distinctive elements of its own. This volume sets out to compare the effects of this historical development by assessing whether shared experience has led to shared law. Key topics from the law of property and obligations are examined, collaboratively and comparatively, by teams of leading experts from both jurisdictions. The individual chapters reveal an intricate pattern of similarity and difference, enabling courts and legal writers in Scotland and South Africa to learn from the experience of a kindred jurisdiction. They also, in a number of areas, reveal an emerging and distinctive jurisprudence of mixed systems, and thus suggest viable answers to some of the great questions which must be answered on the path towards a European private law.

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9780199271009

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The depth of analysis, the approach and the international scholarly cooperation this book reflects make it a wonderful example of how to do comparative law. Jan M. Smits, Rabels Zeitschrift Vol 72, 2 ..written with thoughtfulness, care, and enthusiasm.. Edinburgh Law Review This splendid volume, the product of some fifty jurists of largely Scottish and South African origins, under the guidance of Reinhard Zimmermann, Daniel Visser and Kenneth Reid, is testimony to the remarkable resilience of major, transnational legal traditions and their ability to survive and prosper in the face of colonialist and nationalist restraints...The book is devoted to substantive private law and is devided into three Parts, treating successively Contract (the largest Part), Delict and other Obligations arising by Law, and Property...The main interest of the volume for South African and Scottish lawyers..will be in the deailed, comparative reflection on the content of each national law...this book is significant and welcome.. Thomas Finkenauer

The depth of analysis, the approach and the international scholarly cooperation this book reflects make it a wonderful example of how to do comparative law. Jan M. Smits, Rabels Zeitschrift Vol 72, 2 ..written with thoughtfulness, care, and enthusiasm. Edinburgh Law Review This splendid volume, the product of some fifty jurists of largely Scottish and South African origins, under the guidance of Reinhard Zimmermann, Daniel Visser and Kenneth Reid, is testimony to the remarkable resilience of major, transnational legal traditions and their ability to survive and prosper in the face of colonialist and nationalist restraints...The book is devoted to substantive private law and is devided into three Parts, treating successively Contract (the largest Part), Delict and other Obligations arising by Law, and Property...The main interest of the volume for South African and Scottish lawyers..will be in the deailed, comparative reflection on the content of each national law...this book is significant and welcome. Thomas Finkenauer

Author Information

Daniel Visser is Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town.

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