Summary Legal History 2022 Notes

Legal History Notes,
Cases and Definitions
Y1 Q2
ISABELL GÖTTMANN

,Table of Contents
Week 1...............................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................2
Natural law...................................................................................................................................4
Workshop.....................................................................................................................................8
Week 2: Roman law...........................................................................................................9
Workshop...................................................................................................................................14
Week 3: Italy....................................................................................................................15
Workshop...................................................................................................................................25
Week 4: France................................................................................................................27
Workshop...................................................................................................................................36
Week 5: Germany.............................................................................................................37
Workshop...................................................................................................................................51
Week 6: The Netherlands.................................................................................................53
Week 6: Common Law (I)..................................................................................................59
Workshop...................................................................................................................................63
Week 7: Common Law (II).................................................................................................65
Week 7: Europe................................................................................................................70
Workshop...................................................................................................................................75

,Week 1

Introduction

 Codification
 Latin: codex (= book) & facere (= to make)
 Established by Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832) during age of
enlightenment
 A collection and systematic arrangement of the laws of a state or country,
or statutory provisions and regulations that govern a specific area or
subject of law or practice
 3 essential elements
 Written provisions
 either written law of a complete nature or particular field
(administrative, criminal…)
 This course = private law
 Issued by body with authority (government)
o Government that exercises its authority over its subjects
(beware: societies without governments or governments
without authority)
o Authority must be accepted by citizens
o  contrat sociale (Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778)
 Individual´s will is voluntarily subordinated to the
general will of the community as a result of a tacit
contract of the individual with the community
 The individual loses its natural liberty, but gains civil
liberty
 Minority places itself under the authority of the
majority
 Exclusivity (because of governments authority): no other source of
law to be used
o No laws other than the codification applies in the same field
o Completeness can only be achieved by authority of
government
o BUT law cannot be complete!
o Must be interpreted/explained – generally through
subconscious interpretation of the viewer (res ipsa loquitor)
 no text can be without interpretation

 Functions of codification
 Legal certainty -> what law applies? What legal basis?
 Criminal law: nulla poena sine previa lege poenali
 Political function: strengthening of national unity
 Economic function: uniform regulations (e.g., cross border trade)

 Codification and interpretation
 Interpretation: to give meaning to words
 How can recent or more ancient law be used to settle disputes in modern
society?
 Ancient statutes can still be used to settle disputes in modern society
because of the interpretation by the judiciary
o Interpretation of norms in a broad and general way (+ taking into
account other factors)

,   Codifications of civil law
o France (1804)
o The Netherlands (1809/1811/1838/1992)
o Germany (1900)
o Corpus Iuris by Justinian (533 – 534)
 Answer: Interpretation by judiciary
 Examples:
o Local: Academic statute for PhD ceremony lasts exactly 1 hour
o Bourne (Inspector of Taxes) v Norwich Crematorium Ltd. (1967)
 Income Tax Act 1952: (…) or the subject of goods and
material to any process.`  cremation of corpses?
o Nix v Hedden (1893)
 Tariff Act 1883: Tax on imported `vegetables`: are tomatoes
vegetables or fruits?

 Interpretation methods (see page _)
 Intrinsic
o Grammatical interpretation
 Extrinisc
o Systematic interpretation
o Interpretation based on legislative history
o Historical interpretation (legal history of provision)
o Teleological interpretation (Telos: purpose)
 The necessity of interpretation
 E.g., Dutch law: art. 13 General Provisions
o A judge who refuses to pass judgement under the pretext the law is
silent, dark or incomplete, may be prosecuted for denial of justice. `
o Lex semper loquitur! (The law always speaks)
 The importance of interpretation
o What is tort? -> an illegal act (art. 1401 of Old Civil Code BW)
o Waterpipe in Zutphen (HR 10 June 1910)
 Illegal = forbidden by any section of state
o Lindenbaum v Cohen (31 january 1919)
 Illegal = against the law (unwritten or written): breach of
duty to care -> reasonable care expected in social life of each
citizen (negligence)
o Donoghue v Stevenson (1932): reasonable care to avoid act or
omissions which can be reasonably be foreseen and would likely
injure your neighbour
 The dangers of interpretation
o German Civil Code during Nazi-regime
o Constitutional courts
o Montesquieu`s Trias Politica
 Separation of Powers
 Tension between the powers
 Legislature <-> Judiciary
 Executive <-> >Judiciary
 Executive <-> Legislature
o Attempt to limit the power of judges
 Ban on interpretation
 Ban on commentaries
 Authentic interpretation by legislator
 Référé législatif (referral to legislator)