For centuries, the starting points for serious thought about ethics, justice, and government were traditions founded, in China by Confucius, and in the West by his near contemporary Socrates. In both classical traditions, norms were based on human nature; to contravene these norms was to deny part of one's humanity. The Chinese and Western philosophical traditions have often been regarded as mutually unintelligible. This book shows that the differences can only be understood by examining where they converge. It describes the role of these traditions in two political achievements: the formation of the constitutions of Song dynasty China and the American Republic. Both traditions went into eclipse for similar reasons but with quite different consequences: in China, the growth of absolutism, and in the West, the inability of modern political and ethical thought to defend the most fundamental values.

This collection of readings places side by side the principal doctrines of contracts, torts, unjust enrichment, and property in the cases of the United States, England, France, Germany and China. It presents code provisions, cases, and other legal materials that describe the law in force, and places each doctrine in its historical context to enable an understanding of the development of law as an ongoing process, in which the resolution of current issues depends upon how past issues were resolved. It both provides a road map of the private law of these jurisdictions, and illustrates how private law has been shaped by history, by the effort to solve common problems, and by differences in culture. This new edition reflects changes in the law, and includes the addition of Chinese Law as a comparative study.

Cases arising from disputes between neighbours (what English law would describe in terms of the law of nuisance) fall towards the edge of the law of tort, on its boundary with the law of property. They therefore provide a good example of how the categorisation of a case can affect the liability rule: tort law is typically concerned with fault, property law with strict liability. The aim of this book is to examine the importance of these category shifts, as well as the extent to which statutory interventions, planning control and the like have had an impact on the analysis of tortuous liability.

Civil law and common law systems are held to enforce promises differently: civil law, in principle, will enforce any promise, while common law will enforce only those with 'consideration'. In that respect, modern civil law supposedly differs from the Roman law from which it descended, where a promise was enforced depending on the type of contract the parties had made. This 2001 volume is concerned with the extent to which these characterizations are true, and how these and other differences affect the enforceability of promises. Beginning with a concise history of these distinctions, the volume then considers how twelve European legal systems would deal with fifteen concrete situations. Finally, a comparative section considers why legal systems enforce certain promises and not others, and what promises should be enforced. This is the second completed project of The Common Core of European Private Law launched at the University of Trento.

Professor James Gordley opens this volume with a concise history of the legal status of promises. In the central part of the book legal experts examine how twelve modern European legal systems deal with fifteen concrete situations in which a promise may not be enforceable--situations that include gifts, loans, bailments, houses, rewards, and brokerage contracts. Despite differences in legal doctrine, the volume reveals similarities in the results. This is the second completed project of The Common Core of European Private Law launched at the University of Trento.

The first twenty distinctions, translated here, comprise a treatise on law in general and contain a discussion of the nature of law, voluntary action, and the power of popes, bishops, and secular authorities. Accompanying the translation of the distinctions is a translation of the so-called ordinary gloss, a commentary on the distinctions that took its final form in the thirteenth century and was usually found around the margin texts of the 'Decretum.'

This collection of readings places side by side the principal doctrines of contracts, torts, unjust enrichment, and property in the cases of the United States, England, France, Germany and China. It presents code provisions, cases, and other legal materials that describe the law in force, and places each doctrine in its historical context to enable an understanding of the development of law as an ongoing process, in which the resolution of current issues depends upon how past issues were resolved. It both provides a road map of the private law of these jurisdictions, and illustrates how private law has been shaped by history, by the effort to solve common problems, and by differences in culture. This new edition reflects changes in the law, and includes the addition of Chinese Law as a comparative study.

Foundations of Private Law is a treatise on the Western law of property, contract, tort and unjust enrichment in both common law systems and civil law systems. The thesis of the book is that underlying these fields of law are common principles, and that these principles can be used to explain the history and development of these areas. These underlying common principles are matters of common sense, which were given their archetypal expression by older jurists who wrote in the Aristotelian tradition. These principles shaped the development of Western law but can resolve legal problems which these older writers did not confront.

Foundations of Private Law is a treatise on the Western law of property, contract, tort and unjust enrichment in both common law systems and civil law systems. The thesis of the book is that underlying these fields of law are common principles, and that these principles can be used to explain the history and development of these areas. These underlying common principles are matters of common sense, which were given their archetypal expression by older jurists who wrote in the Aristotelian tradition. These principles shaped the development of Western law but can resolve legal problems which these older writers did not confront.