BOOK: Cairns on Codification, Transplants and History

John Cairns (Edinburgh)'s Codification, Transplants and History: Law Reform in Louisiana (1808) and Quebec (1866) (The Lawbook Exchange, 2015) is now available:

When Louisiana enacted its Digest of the Civil Laws in 1808 and Quebec its Civil Code of Lower Canada in 1866, both jurisdictions were in a period of transition economic, social and political. In both, the laws had originally been transplanted from European nations whose societies were in many ways different from theirs.


This book offers the first systematic and detailed exploration of the two new codes in light of social and legal change. Cairns examines the rich, complex, and varying legal cultures French, Spanish, Civilian and Anglo-American on which the two sets of redactors drew in drafting their codes. He places this examination in the context surrounding each codification, and the legal history of both societies.

Cairns offers a detailed analysis of family law and employment in the two codes, showing how their respective redactors selected from a defined range of sources and materials to construct their codes. He shows that they acted relatively freely, attempting to inscribe into law rules reflecting what they understood to be the needs of their society from an essentially intuitive and elite perspective. While not propounding a universal theory of legal development, Cairns nonetheless shows the types of factors likely to influence legal change more generally. xlv, 559 pp.

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT: Annual International Conference on Comparative Law 2015 - Law of Obligations Surrounded by Other Normative Systems

Subject areas:

1. Morality, customs, praxeology and the content of an obligation.
2. Agreements which are not contracts, relevant to the law of obligations. 
3. Obligations of the creditor: are they just correlates of the obligations of the debtor, or do they constitute a functionally separate category?
4. The history of the relationship of contract law and other normative systems. Interpretation, law-making and science of law.
5. "Socialist law" in the capitalist reality (and vice versa). Interaction of the legal system with the extra-legal environment. The impact of socio-political formations on the shape of state, the content and the evolution of the law.
6. The future of the state law in terms of economic globalization.
7. The nature of the obligations in terms of the various normative systems.
8. Facts as obligations vs legal systems.
9. Cultural diversity - a challenge to the law of obligations?

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Registration is open until June 30, 2015.
Draft programme will be available on July 31, 2015.

Click here for further information.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE LIMERICK 2015: ALBUM 2

Credit photos: Prof. Olivier Moréteau

ANNUAL CONFERENCE LIMERICK 2015: ALBUM 1

Credit photos: Prof. Elina Moustaira

Il Codice Civile, The First Translation of Napoleon's Code Civil

Sara V. Pic, Reference Librarian at the Law Library of Louisiana (400 Royal Street, New Orleans), assembled a unique exhibition on the Italian translation of the Napoleonic Code. TheIl Codice Civile exhibition can also be visited online.

CALL FOR PAPERS/CONFERENCE NOTICE: Small States in a Legal World

Small States in a Legal World

The inaugural conference of the Centre for Small States

Queen Mary University of London

The aim of the conference is to launch the Centre for Small States as the home for research and learning into the legal issues facing small states (defined as those states with a population of 1.5m or less).  The Centre for Small States also includes within its remit some territories that are not classified as states as a matter of international law, yet are sufficiently geographically and culturally distinct entities to be worthy of study in their own right such as the British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories).

For further information on the Centre for Small States, see http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/research/centres/small-states/index.html 

Date: 7 September 2015

Venue: Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Queen Mary University of London, WC2A 3JB

Registration fee: £50(reduced rate for students and half-day registrations)

Keynote Panel

Professor Lino Briguglio, Islands and Small States Institute, University of Malta

Professor Baldur Thorhallsson, Centre for Small State Studies, University of Iceland

Her Honour Justice Mathilda Twomey, Court of Appeal, Seychelles

Confirmed Speakers

Professor Susy Frankel, Victoria University of Wellington

Dr Ann Mumford, King’s College London

Professor Catherine Rogers, Penn State University

Topics for discussion include ethics in small jurisdictions, the challenges of mixed legal systems in small states, small states as tax havens, and intellectual property issues.

We have a small number of spaces for additional speakers.  We welcome contributions on any aspect of the legal situation of small states, be it public or private law.  Please send your abstract of 300-400 words to Dr Caroline Morris (c.morris@qmul.ac.uk) and Dr Petra Butler (petra.butler@qmul.ac.uk) by 15 June 2015.  Decisions regarding inclusion in the conference programme will be sent by 30 June 2015.