In partibus Angliae : images of the 'common law' in Italian legal culture

Abstract

This paper analyses, mainly from a historical perspective, what are usually perceived as two non-convergent legal systems, namely the continental civil law system, and the Anglo-Saxon common law system. Throughout the article, the author pinpoints the numerous misconceptions that have been harboured for centuries by the legal scholars of either system, vis-a-vis the legal system prevailing on the other side of the Channel. Principal amongst such misconceptions is the idea that the common law and the civil law systems have travelled all along on parallel railroads which never met or intertwined - the notion of two legal systems each revolving in a world of its own, and not capable of being influenced by or of influencing the development of the other. The author dismantles these preconceived ideas by outlining various ways in which these two apparently isolated legal systems have in fact been in continuous contact. In particular, detailed reference is made to the enormous volume of legal works by British authors which have been translated on the continent throughout the centuries, and which have maintained their popularity among the legal scholars and intellectuals of mainland Europe ever since. The exchange between the two legal systems in question is also analysed in the context of specific fields of law, such as maritime law; commercial law; public law; and the law of contracts.