Chapter 9 The Role of Comparative Law in the Development of Modern Private International Law (1750–1914)
In: International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century (1776-1914)Search for other papers by Ana Delic in
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Abstract
Three interactions between private international law (hereafter: pil) and comparative law in the modern period (1750–1914) were: (1) comparative pil was a scholarly endeavour and secondly; (2) this scholarship was used to draft legislation and (3) comparative private law was used by lawyers in defending clients and judges when interpreting, applying and enforcing foreign law. In the common law tradition, continental authors were key resources for the establishment of American and English conflict of laws precedent (1750s–1850s). The American Joseph Story wrote the first comparative study of conflict of laws (1823). Comparative private law treatises helped apply foreign law in English courts (1830s–1860s) Finally, common law jurists denied continental inspirations (1850s–1910s). In the civil law tradition, French courts and authors avoided comparisons by clinging to statutism (1800s–1850s). German comparative legal science was born (1740s–1860s). In opposition, Carl von Savigny’s (1779–1861) propagated a conception of the Christian community of European nations (1849), propelling multilateralist pil movements (1840s–1900s). In the international law tradition, institutionalisation was achieved by the Montevideo Congress (1888–1889) among Latin American states and the Hague Conference of Private International Law (1893) among continental European nations. Both congresses utilised comparative legal methods to draft the first multilateral conventions.