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Alchemistic Metaphors In Comparative Law: Mixed Legal Systems, Reception Of Laws And Legal Transplants, Andreas Rahmatian

Journal of Civil Law Studies

The terms “mixed legal systems” and “legal transplants” are used frequently in comparative law. What they denote exactly, is difficult to ascertain: what does the mixité consist of, what are its ingredients or building blocks; which types of mixité exist, how are legal transplants transformed in the receiving legal system? Comparative lawyers often resort to metaphors when they try to describe and explain these complex phenomena: metaphors from cooking, music, horticulture or biology. Whenever there are mixtures, trans-formations, or transmutations, metaphors from the philosophical concepts of alchemy are at least equally illuminating. This article discusses the different problems of conceptualising …