Professional Documents
Culture Documents
An Introductory Overview
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The chapters in this collection are the culmination of an idea that was conceived
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as we strolled through the city of Valetta, Malta, on our way to a conference
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dinner.1 While Malta itself appears to be a stable ‘happy union’ of British and
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Continental laws, we asked whether some mixed systems might evolve in such a
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way that they would appear to lose their mixed identity.2 Were, we asked, some
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mixed systems in danger of disappearing or of being overwhelmed by one or
other elements within them? Did certain accidents of history or contemporary
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events make some mixed systems more ‘at risk’ than others? At the time we did
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not pause greatly to consider that the term ‘endangered’ might prove contentious
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and evoke quite strong reactions when applied to different mixed legal systems.
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However, when we held a conference in June 2013 in Glasgow, to bring together
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colleagues to discuss this broad theme and the ways in which it did or did not
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apply to particular legal systems, it was soon evident that being ‘endangered’
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is not only relative, but for some might be seen to be a positive characteristic
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of the evolution of legal systems. The risk of losing some aspects of a system
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mixed although they are remodelled, while conversely some systems which
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appear to be becoming mixed, or have historically been so, do not embrace this
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as a classification.
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The aim of the project was to explore different models of mixing and to
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consider the challenges that confront many mixed jurisdictions which may
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interested in: the history of the jurisdiction which created a mixed system;
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the events that marked a cut-off point from the parent system or events which
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marked the point at which the system, or parts of it, became endangered; the
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1 ‘Mixed Legal Systems, East and West: Newest Trends and Developments’ (14–15
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May 2012), organized by the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists, the Protection
Project of the Johns Hopkins University, the Eason Weinmann Center for Comparative Law,
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and the Parliament of Malta. A collection generated by that conference will be published as
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MY Mattar, VV Palmer and A Koppel (eds), Mixed Legal Systems: East and West (Ashgate
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forthcoming).
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2 See SP Donlan, B Andò and D Zammit, ‘“A Happy Union”?: Malta’s Legal
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of legal education and the legal profession; the role of geographical proximity
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or distance from other systems or parent systems; and the influence of regional
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or international memberships or agencies in shaping the law.
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All modern legal traditions are both mixed and mixing.3 That is, each is a
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hybrid; each continues to evolve over time. Modern mixed legal systems, where
State laws of diverse origins lie in reasonably visible and frequently discrete,
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identifiable sections are simply the most overt mixes. The coherence and
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harmony in contemporary legal systems, or the appearance of such coherence
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and harmony, is the result of the long and complicated development of modern
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nations and States.4 But if all traditions are effectively mixed, there is a
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meaningful division to be made between, as Joseph McKnight once put it, ‘what
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may be termed mixed and that which has already been blended to an extent that
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[the] origins of rules are lost in ordinary legal practice.’5 The distinction is ‘at
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once … practical and … psychological’, obvious to those both within it and
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without.6 In this sense a ‘blended’ system or part of a system, might be regarded
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as one that no longer appears to be ‘mixed’. Of course the system itself still
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remains mixed if there are new mixes or if the now blended part is only one
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history a complex mix of laws and norms was typical. Only the rise of the modern
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nation-state makes our modern concept of a ‘mixed’ legal system possible, as one
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in which there may be multiple elements, but which all receive their authority
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from a mixed to a blended form is even true, for example, of English law. Only
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over the course of many centuries was the law of the courts of common law
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3 See, for example, E Örücü, ‘Mixed and Mixing Systems: A Conceptual Search’
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in E Örücü, E Attwooll and S Coyle (eds), Studies in Legal Systems: Mixed and Mixing
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(Kluwer Law International 1996); PH Glenn, Legal Traditions of the World (4th edn Oxford
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University Press 2010), and V Palmer, ‘Mixed Legal Systems … and the Myth of Pure
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4 The transition from considerable legal complexity to greater legal unity, much of it
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occurring in the nineteenth century, effectively created the modern conceptual distinction
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between ‘pure’ and ‘mixed’ legal traditions. See P Glenn, ‘Quebec: Mixité and Monism’ in
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Örücü et al (n3) and SP Donlan, ‘Remembering: Legal Hybridity and Legal History’ (2011)
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Juridical Review (ns) 177, 186. Others might use ‘blended’ to suggest either a coherent or
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6 ibid. See I Castellucci, ‘How Mixed Must a Mixed System be?’ (2008) 12 Electronic
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December 2013.
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An Introductory Overview 3
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blended together with legislation and competing jurisdictions: Equity, various
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commercial and urban laws, pan-European jurisdictions applying law drawn
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from canon law, feudal law, or the European ius commune, and a wide variety of
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summary jurisdictions of ‘low justice’.7 Modern ‘mixed’ systems are those that
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bear diverse traces of their complex construction.8
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Indeed, determining or defining the various phases of purity and mixity is
extraordinarily difficult. In an article discussing the ‘hybrid’ metaphor, Brian
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Stross wrote that:
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There are … no pure individuals, no pure cultures, no pure genres. All things
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are of necessity hybrid. Of course we can construct them to be relatively pure,
and in fact we do so, which is precisely how we manage to get (new) hybrids
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from purebreds that are (former) hybrids.9
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Like the evolution of species in the natural world, the process of legal change is
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very fluid. With legal traditions this is true, in significant part, because taxonomical
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judgments are subjective and conventional. Categories of classification – for
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example, ‘common law’ or ‘civil law’ – are the result of a process of selection
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that is anything but natural. This does not mean, however, that we are at a loss to
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legal change in ‘mixed’ systems. In selecting the case studies for this collection
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we wanted to explore the risks across a wide spectrum from entrenched to highly
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endangered. We asked whether some mixed systems might evolve in such a way
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7 SP Donlan, ‘“All This Together Make Up Our Common Law”: Legal Hybridity in
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England and Ireland, 1704–1804’ in E Örücü (ed.), Mixed Legal Systems at New Frontiers
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8 91 legal systems may be categorized as ‘civil law’, 42 as ‘common law’, and 94
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are listed as ‘mixed systems’ which in turn have been arranged into ten sub-categories. For
these lists see, N Mariani and G Fuentes, World Legal Systems/Les Systeme Juridiques dans
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9 B Stross, ‘The Hybrid Metaphor: From Biology to Culture’ (1999) 112 Journal of
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10 It is important to note that nominally pure systems could also be analysed in this
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way.
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4 A Study of Mixed Legal Systems: Endangered, Entrenched or Blended
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that they would appear to lose their ‘mixed’ identity? Would they be reclassified,
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within the simplistic, dominant taxonomies of comparative law, as belonging
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to a single legal tradition? Were some mixed systems, or elements within
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such systems, more at risk than others? What strategies have been adopted to
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accelerate or counteract change? In addition, to what extent could the experience
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of these explicit mixed systems be seen as barometers of legal change more
generally? What, if anything, do they tell us about legal evolution globally?
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We left it to the contributors to select the terms they thought appropriate and to
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express their own views on whether or not their particular system was at risk.
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Legal traditions rarely begin with a tabula rasa. Short of revolution, even
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extensive legal reform is rare and more likely to be piecemeal and ad hoc. More
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typically, legal traditions are the products of long and complex histories. They
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are all ‘systems in transition’.11 The stability or instability of a legal tradition,
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its maintenance and preservation, may be due to a number of different factors,
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either singly or in combination. This includes the work of its jurists and
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politicians, as well as more global and shifting influences and powers. Some
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such systems will maintain equilibrium among their different component parts.
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Their legal identity, whatever it is, will be maintained. They are ‘entrenched’.
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For our purposes, an ‘entrenched’ mixed system is simply one in which the
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various elements that compose it are stable. Such a system could be calm or
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contentious, but the traditions within it have achieved a sort of balance. This
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famous metaphor, attributed to Heraclitus that, ‘you cannot step twice into the
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same river’. Nothing endures, that is, but change. In fact, moving from one legal
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categorization to another is a very rare event, not least because our taxonomies
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shift along with changes in the legal systems. We chose the term ‘endangered’
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change is not easy to measure and the direction of change may be uncertain. It
is rarely the result of a single event, but a process of fits and starts, of gradual
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accretion or decay. The bottom line here is whether the system alters so much
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that it leaves one classification to enter another. With such systems, one or more
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elements which make up the mix is being overtaken by a stronger influence either
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within, or possibly even from without, the system. Concerns about this type of
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endangerment are especially delicate in mixed systems that are hybrids of the
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two dominant Western legal traditions, common law (Anglo-American law) and
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civil law (Continental law) – although we certainly do not mean to imply that
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mixed systems are limited in this way. There Anglo-American global hegemony
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of foreign invasion, although regional and global pressures and influences may
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play a part – as indicated in Mathilda Twomey’s contribution on the Seychelles,
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but a kind of legal–cultural civil war. This legal–cultural struggle may not
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necessarily have negative consequences. Sophie Morin, for example, locating
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her consideration of the present against past legal–cultural struggles, suggests
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that Quebec’s mixed system has become entrenched and well-functioning and
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that there is little danger of common law dominance. Indeed, she suggests that
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the system may be becoming more civilian.
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Our choice of the term ‘endangered’ might, of course, appear loaded. The
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word is rarely used neutrally. It is typically meant to refer to the potential loss of
something viewed as valuable, as with an endangered natural species. Obviously,
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not all legal traditions are so precious. Legal evolution can both improve and
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corrupt. Indeed, even if it was possible to describe legal change without subjective
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bias, no single metric can prescribe the ‘proper’ balance within a system. This
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will depend on the wider, conflicting aspirations of the people involved. It will
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require more than a legal analysis. Those in the system, both professionals and
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the public, may lament change, especially where such alterations are seen to
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ideas and institutions. Indeed, neo- or post-colonial situations may also create
complex problems, illustrated here by the contributions of Pacifico Agabin on
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on Saint Lucia.
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is everything. But the concerns and discussion take place against a background
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variety and their peripheral status in global geopolitics, mixed systems were
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marginalized for most of the last century. In the last two decades, however,
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they have drawn ever greater attention and scholars have sought to show their
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12 See, for example, J du Plessis, ‘Comparative Law and the Study of Mixed Legal
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Law (Oxford University Press 2006). In addition to Örücü et al (1996) (n3), collections
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have appeared in the (2003) 78 Tulane Law Review and online collections in the (2008)
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html> accessed 11 February 2014, and the (2014) 1 European Journal of Comparative
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Some have focused attention on mixed systems similar enough to arguably
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constitute a ‘third legal family’14 or created collections focusing on comparisons
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between specific mixed systems.15 For others, the contemporary complexity of
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modern laws has suggested that overtly mixed systems might provide useful
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information about future, more mixed, laws in Europe and beyond.16 Still others
have sought to place the study of mixed systems within a wider landscape of
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legal pluralism.17 Recent scholarship on mixed systems is creating new frontiers
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for comparative law.18 This is, in part, the result of a wider recognition of legal
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mixing across all traditions in our present globalized environment and, in part,
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it is the result of the new found importance of the more ‘exotic’ mixed systems.
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Research into mixed systems must continue to be both critical and
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constructive. Speaking coherently about legal complexity across time and
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space will require an assessment of the continuing relevance of earlier models.
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Where possible and productive, new frameworks or vocabularies must be
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introduced and applied. To have any general explanatory power, these will have
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to be somewhat general, but cannot be so abstract that they are unhelpful or
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It is here that we hope that this collection contributes to the existing body of
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Örücü et al (1996) (n3); ‘A General View of Legal Families and of Mixed Systems’ in E
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Örücü and D Nelken (eds) Comparative Law: A Handbook (Hart Publishing 2007); ‘What
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Family (2nd edn Cambridge University Press 2012); ‘Mixed Jurisdictions’ in JM Smits (ed)
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Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law (2nd edn Edward Elgar 2012); and ‘Mixed Legal
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Press 2005) and VV Palmer and EC Reid (eds), Mixed Jurisdictions Compared: Private
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16 For example, JM Smits, The Making of European Private Law: Towards a Ius
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Commune Europaeum as a Mixed Legal System (Intersentia 2002) and H Kötz, ‘The Value
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and Hybrid Legal Traditions (Shulthess 2010) and ‘Things Being Various: Normativity,
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Legality, State Legality’ in M Adams and D Heirbaut (eds), The Method and Culture of
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a variety of mixed systems from around the world. All are evolving. Some are
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entrenched; some are endangered; some appear to have muddled aspirations,
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others have blended elements but remain mixed. Some are large, some small. We
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include European jurisdictions (Scotland), as well as systems in the Americas
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(Quebec) and Asia (the Philippines). By design, we have also included a large
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number of mixed micro-jurisdictions, both in Europe (Cyprus and Jersey) and
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beyond (Guyana, Mauritius, St Lucia and Seychelles). Such systems appear to
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be particularly sensitive to the wider, global influences on legal, and perhaps
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social, evolution.19
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In the jurisdictions covered in this volume, it was important first to look at
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the degree of endangerment, if any, through the sequence of events, since the
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history and the present may tell us different things about the status of a mixed
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legal system. This may very well be the case in Scotland, never a colony, where
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common law is becoming more predominant compared to its historic roots in the
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civilian tradition, at least in a number of areas. Whereas in Guyana, presented
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as a muddled system, unsure of the direction it is taking, it is factors such as
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concepts that feed into, fuse with and become part of an amalgam, that have
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one, it is the role of American judges, the shift to English language, the case-
by-case injection of common law that become the explanatory factors for the
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In contrast, the Channel Islands are not seen as endangered, but vulnerable.
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The mixture in Jersey, for example, started with Norman customary law and
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later both English and French influences, but changes in the composition of
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the population has resulted in a linguistic shift and bilingualism, with two
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official languages, and has become unclear in some areas. Despite this, a period
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19 See M Bogdan, The Law of Mauritius and Seychelles: A Study of Two Small Mixed
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Legal Systems (Wallin and Dalhim Boktryckeri 1989) 9. See also A Grossman, ‘Finding the
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Law: The Micro-States and Small Jurisdictions of Europe’ (Andorra, Cyprus, Northern
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Vatican State; UK European dependencies: Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Isle of Man; Faroe
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Law. The educational and doctrinal goals of the Institute may stabilize or even
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strengthen the condition of Jersey’s mixed system.
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In Mauritius, there is evidence not of blending where people lose sight
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of the mix but a further stage, in which the various parts appear to work
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harmoniously in a coherent, well-functioning system. The codes are in French
but now the official language is English, and there is an intriguing mixture of the
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population and languages. The system is not endangered, the core elements of
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the French legal heritage still remain in French, but laws related to the economy
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and globalization reflect common law thinking, all operating within the droit
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commun of Mauritius. In contrast, in what was once a ‘colony of this colony’,
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Seychelles, where law was therefore initially a ‘transplant from a transplant’,
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the civil law operates in a context that appears to be increasingly oriented to the
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common law. There is an erosion of civil law tradition, not least by changes in
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the language of its Codes. From the perspective of those wishing to retain an
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earlier balance of traditions, Seychelles is not doing as well as Mauritius. The
crucial question here is how to maintain that balance. ww
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In the report here, Quebec is presented as not endangered. The concepts that
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came to the fore were those of language, duality, resistance and assimilation.
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Although knowledge of the civil law and the French language is still often
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lacking in the case of the judges of the Federal Supreme Court, the 1994 Civil
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Code has firmly anchored the civilian tradition within the province itself. In
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and autonomy indicate that the common law may be in more danger than the civil
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law. Closely related to Quebec in its colonial history and its Civil Code, is Saint
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is doing poorly compared to Quebec. There, the Civil Code has been diluted by
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the insertion of common law concepts. The interpretation of the Civil Code has
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always been in the hands of judges trained in common law and unfamiliar with
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protecting its civilian heritage. There are proposals to revise the Code drawing
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on the 1994 Quebec Code. If this were to happen, then some equilibrium could
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The case of Cyprus illustrates the type of mixed system which falls outside
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the classical taxonomy of mixed legal systems put forward by Vernon Palmer,
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since here the present day private law was derived more from the common law
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and public law, especially administrative law, more from the civilian tradition.20
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In addition, rather then being endangered, here laws from different origins do not
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only seem to co-exist but also blend, with university degree courses unusually
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offering a mixture of Greek, English and Cypriot content in Greek and English.
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into mixed legal systems in general, and some mixed legal systems, ongoing
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mixes and disappearing, suffocated, or muddled mixed legal systems, in
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particular. Whatever the label, we hope that the analyses in this volume will
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be helpful for scholars and students with an interest in comparative law and a
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special interest in mixed legal systems, and provide inspiration to pursue further
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inquiries.
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