Book Review by Daniel Visser
This is a book about a subject that is receiving increasing attention throughout the world, namely “mixed jurisdictions.” There is, however, no shared understanding of what this term means. In one sense, all jurisdictions can, in one way or another, be said to be mixed, because all are constructed from a variety of different influences, and therefore it behoves everyone who writes on this topic to define the sense in which they use the term. Professor Palmer recognizes the difficulties inherent in such a definitional exercise and makes it clear that he is interested in systems that are constructed, overtly, from elements of the civil law and the common law. In other words, he uses the term in what might be referred to as its traditional meaning, namely a jurisdiction in which “common law and civil law constitute the basic building blocks of the legal edifice.” Without denying that such systems could also contain any number of further elements, such as autochthonous customary law or religious law, and without denying the validity of studies that concentrate on different features of such jurisdictions, his purpose is to investigate the interaction of civil law and common law in one system.
About the Author
Daniel Visser.
Citation
78 Tul. L. Rev. 2329 (2004)