The Revival of Private Law in Central and Eastern Europe: Essays in Honour of Ferdinand J.M. Feldbrugge

"During the last years of its life the Soviet Union turned to law like a dying monarch to his withered God. Its successor, the Russian Federation, has adopted the same posture. In public discourse the phrases "civil society" and "law-governed state" have acquired hortatory force, the judges are bidden by law to wear robes, and the Congress and the Supreme Soviet enact and amend statutes with the fervor of one who sees in legislation the path to paradise." (Bernard Rudden, "Civil Society and Civil Law", The Revival of Private Law in Central and Eastern Europe.) Somewhat less dramatically, perhaps, the picture is repeated throughout the rest of the post-communist constituency. The papers collected in this volume explore the web of relations between civil society, civil law, and the constitutional or law-governed state in this geo-political environment. They trace the process of resurgence of civil law institutions on the local scene during the seminal stages of the bid to effect the switch to an entrepreneurial civil culture. The focus is on the critical function performed by the civil law canon in the creation of a private economy and the flourishing of a civil society, with special emphasis on how the revival of a private law repertory can contribute toward containing the state's natural penchant for intrusion into most areas of public life and enhance the status of human rights. The impact of international legal standards on the development of this new outlook is also taken into account. The result is a wide-ranging description and analysis of the progress recorded here thus far in removing the obstacles to completing the desired transition and an insightful evaluation of the prospects for bringing the humanistic and democratic revolution now being staged in each of these states to a successful conclusion. Particular attention is paid to the vital role of the legal media in this ongoing saga and their power to engineer such a metamorphosis.

List of Abbreviations. List of Contributors. A Word from the Editors. Foreword; G. van den Berg. Civil Law in Eastern Europe : A Group Portrait: General Survey of Developments in Eastern Europe in the Field in Civil Law; H. Izdebski. Civil Law in the Russian Federation and the Commonwealth: General Aspects: Civil Society and Civil Law; B. Rudden. Soviet Civil Law as Legal History: a Chapter or a Footnote; A. Schmidt. Ideological Remnants in Civil Law; J. Hazard. The System of the Civil Law in the New Commonwealth; O. Ioffe. The General Part of the Russian Civil Code; M.S. Braginskii. The Constitution, the Constitutional Court, and the Development of Russian Civil Law in the Transition Period; G. van den Berg. Russian Environmental Law; T. Hoya. Property and Contracts in Russian Civil Law: Tort Law and the State and Russia; D. Barry. History of Soviet Inheritance Abroad: Soviet Heirs in American and Canadian Estates. Soviet/Russian Succession Law: Recent Past and Uncertain Present; Y. Luryi. Privatization and the Development of Russian Civil Law; S. Reynolds. Corporate Law in the Private Sector: The Role of State Control; W.B. Simons. On Property Rights in the Russian Federation; K. Malfliet. Law of Lease in Russia; H. Oda. Secured Transactions in Russian Civil Law; W. Timmermans. Industrial Property in the Russian Federation; P. Maggs. The Role of Law in the Development of the Russian Information Society; C. Prins. Civil Law in the Russian Federation: International Aspects: Private International Law; M.M. Boguslavskii. The Relationship between International and Domestic Law and the Impact on Civil Law; G. Ginsburgs. Foreign Legal Assistance in the CIS: Lessons from the Early Years; W.E. Butler. Civil Law in Other Countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Codification of Civil Law in Albania; G. Ajani. Recent Developments in Privatization Laws, Banking Laws and Dispute Resolution in Hungary; I. Jankovich. Civil Law in Bulgaria: The Relationship between International and Domestic Law and the Impact on Civil Law (with Special Emphasis on the Law of Obligations and Developments in Intellectual Property); T. Kamenova. Security Interests in the Czech Republic; B. Roelvink. Epilogue: Reflections on a Civil Law for Russia; F.J.M. Feldbrugge. Bibliography of the Works of Professor F.J.M. Feldbrugge, Commemorating his 25th Year as Professor of Law at Leiden University; A.P. Pries. Selected Bibliography on Civil Law in the Former Soviet Union; A.P. Pries.