Legal tradition and comparative law

Cardilli Roman law first lecture 28/09/2018

1. Legal order vs. legal system

Legal Tradition is at the base of both legal orders and systems. The nation state idea is a group of organizations/institutions of a territory that has power. Each modern state came out because at the base there was a nation. A nation is something that has an identity: the only real “nation” is France (it’s always had the same values); we could also call “nation” the territory from Mexico to Brazil. In the 50 states of US, the only “nation” is the one of the redskin.

A nation should have power, a territory and therefore “borders”, and its national law. Language and religion help as well. A legal order is the expression of the nation state idea (which is made by national power, territory and law).

2. Universal ideas vs. national ideas

Legal system: universal and supernational. René David (a scholar of Comparative Law), studied the legal orders and he came up with another concept: family (father, mother, brother..) is a family: the Roman law Roman German family (EU). German law was treated before Germany was even created in the 19th century; the pandectistic law was created.

3. Universal law vs. national law

Digesta (Latin) Roman Emperor Justinian – German law is based on Justinian’s pandecte (Greek) Roman law, that later translated to BGB.

4. Universal power vs. national power

Discussion on the differences between universal and national power within the context of legal frameworks.