Law Commons^™

The Social-Obligation Norm Of Property: Duguit, Hayem, And Others, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

This article discusses and analyzes the sources and methods used by Leon Duguit in constructing the social-obligation or social-function norm of property as set out in an influential series of lectures in Buenos Aires published in 1912. The work of Henri Hayem has been underappreciated in the development of Duguit's ideas. Hayem should be restored as a central influence on Duguit's thought and as one of the main and earliest proponents of the idea of the social-function norm. The article also examines the influence of Charmont, Comte, Durkheim, Gide, Hauriou, Landry, and Saleilles in Duguit's thought on property and its …

The Power Of Codification In Latin America: Simón Bolívar And The Code Napoléon, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

Codification can be an effective means to centralize and to consolidate state power. The use of codification in this manner runs against the commonly perceived notion that it promotes republican and egalitarian values. As Simon Bolivar's dictatorship quickly crumbled around him, he turned to codification based on the Code Napoleon as part of an attempt to unify Gran Colombia. Factors leading him to this undertaking and source were the need for legal reform, his emulation of Napoleon, his exposure to the works of Jeremy Bentham, and, speculatively, the influence of Andres Bello. Boivar's attempt at codification was not to complete …

The Future Of The Economic Analysis Of Law In Latin America: A Proposal For Model Codes, Juan Javier Del Granado, M. C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

Nothing excites civilian lawyers and judges more than commissions for codification. Codification is more than an academic enterprise. Codification projects directly cut across the interface between law and life. ALACDE intends to harness this Latin American interest in codification to bring the economic approach to Latin America. A new-generation law and economics civil and commercial code will be a conscious project to restate Roman law's usefulness for coping with today's problems. Through law and economics, Roman law will renew itself. As a paradigmatic private-law system, Roman law is eminently amenable to a state-of-the-art fusion with law and economics. Sensitivity to …

The Constitution Of Cádiz In Florida, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

The article explores the vibrant constitutional community that existed in St. Augustine and the province of East Florida in the final decade of Spanish control of the area. Based on relatively unexplored primary sources, it reveals a great deal of unknown information about the importance of the Constitution in Florida immediately before the territory was transferred to the United States. The article provides full description of the Constitution's promulgation in 1812 and a second promulgation of the Constitution in 1820 (something unknown in the general literature). It also addresses the construction of the St. Augustine monument to the Constitution erected …

Pre-Constitutional Law And Constitutions: Spanish Colonial Law And The Constitution Of Cádiz, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

This article contributes to the intellectual and legal history of this constitutional document. It also provides a close study of how pre-constitutional laws are employed in writing constitutions. It examines the way Spanish colonial law, known as "derecho indiano" in Spanish, was used in the process of drafting the Constitution and particularly the way these constitutional activities and provisions related to the Americas. The article asserts that this pre-constitutional law was used in three distinct ways: as general knowledge related to the Americas and their institutions; as a source for providing a particular answer to a specific legal question; and …

Origins Of The Social Function Of Property In Chile, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

In 1925, Chile was one of the first countries in Latin America to adopt a social-function limitation on property. This study traces the importance of Duguit’s work in the construction of the property provisions of the Chilean Constitution of 1925. This contribution notes the shift from the earlier expressions of property as an absolute right, as found in the Constitution of 1833, to the language of the Constitution of 1925 that submits property to “the maintenance and progress of the social order.” It tracks the debates in the drafting committees to expose the various concepts of property open to the …

Latin American Legal History: Some Essential Spanish Terms, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

Terms related to Latin American legal history translated into English.

International Law And Religion In Latin America: The Beagle Channel Dispute, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

In 1978, an Argentine diplomat proposed a method of defusing a territorial dispute that very nearly sparked off a war between Argentina and Chile, It,was an offer calculated to be rejected by Chile, and yet Chile’s immediate response was “Agreed” - a response so unthinkable to Argentina that within hours its military Junta revoked the power of the Foreign Minister and the President to sign the agreement it had just proposed. In December 1978, the countries were quickly moving towards a war that, if waged, would most likely have engulfed much of Latin America. The Vatican, however, intervened and brought …

Marbury In Mexico: Judicial Review’S Precocious Southern Migration, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

In attempting to construct United States-style judicial review for the Mexican Supreme Court in the 1880s, Ignacio Vallarta, president of the court, read Marbury in a way that preceded this use of the case in the United States. Using this surprising fact as a central example, this article makes several important contributions to the field of comparative constitutional law. The work demonstrates that through constitutional migration, novel readings of constitutional sources can arise in foreign fora. In an era when the United States Supreme Court may be accused of parochialism in its constitutional analysis, the article addresses the current controversy …

Educación Legal En Los Estados Unidos Ii: Educación De Postgrado, Educación Continuada, Y Consideraciones Comparativas, Maria Elena Cobas Cobiella, M. C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

Este artículo se presenta en dos partes. La primera parte, publicada en el volúmen II de esta revista, da una breve historiade la educación legal en los EE.UU., una descripción de las facultades de derecho hoy en día, y el contenido de la carrera de grado profesional de derecho en dicho país, el Juris Doctor, o J.D. La segunda parte, publicada en esta misma revista, describe los estudios de postgrado en derecho en los EE.UU., la educación continuada para abogados, y algunas consideraciones comparativas, sobre todo con respecto al Plan de Bolonia.

Borrowing Private Law In Latin America: Andris Bello's Use Of Thecode Napolion In Drafting The Chilean Civil Code, M. C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

No abstract provided.

Educación Legal En Los Estados Unidos I: Facultades De Derecho Y El Juris Doctor, Maria Elena Cobas Cobiella, M. C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

Este artículo se presenta en dos partes. La primera parte da una breve historia de la educación legal en los Estados Unidos, una descripción de las facultades de derecho hoy en día, y el contenido de la carrera de grado rofesional de derecho en dicho país, el Juris Doctor, o J.D. La segunda parte, publicada en el volúmen siguiente de esta revista, describe los estudios de postgrados en derecho en los Estados Unidos, la educación continuada para abogados, y algunas consideraciones comparativas, sobre todo con respecto al Plan de Bolonia.

Bastardy And The Statute Of Wills: Interpreting A Sixteenth-Century Statute With Cases And Readings, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

The Statute of Wills of 1540 created a tax loophole for transfers of property to illegitimate children. Assessments for wardships that would normally be imposed on certain transfers of land to children could be effectively avoided by establishing that the donee was illegitimate, and therefore a stranger to the donor for the purposes of the statute. English lawyers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries educated their colleagues about this newly available loophole. In the inns of court, lawyers discussed the statutory provisions and recent revenue cases from the Court of Wards. This article sets out the loophole, examines how the …

An Obituary Of The Federal Estate Tax, M C. Mirow, Bruce A. Mcgovern

M. C. Mirow

The authors adopt the genre of the obituary to discuss the development and present condition of the Federal Estate Tax. Using this form of descriptive narrative, the authors present a concise summary of the most important changes in the tax over the past eighty-five years.

Rerum Novarum: New Things And Recent Paradigms Of Property Law, M. C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow