The course will refer to principal mixed jurisdictions (e.g., Scotland, Quebec, Israel) that combine elements of common and continental law. Mixed jurisdictions provide a laboratory to understand the harmonization process of legal systems happening today. Due to the intermingling of civil law and common law, on the one hand, and secular and religious law, on the other, the case of Israel will be of particular interest.
The discussion about mixed jurisdictions involves seminal questions that will be discussed in the course: the idea of pluralism in law, the relationship between colonialism and modernization, and the idea of legal transplants. The first part of the course will analyze the idea of legal traditions, focusing upon the continental legal system, the common law legal system, and the religious legal system. Following this analysis, the second part of the course will develop the distinction of the mixed legal system in broad and narrow senses. The third part, discusses mixed legal systems based on common law and civil law, focusing on Louisiana, Quebec, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Scotland and Israel.