Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The civil law in European codes
- 2 ‘A token of independence’: debates on the history and development of Scots law
- 3 The Scottish civil code project
- 4 Scots law in Europe: the case of contract
- 5 Scottish property: a system of Civilian principle. But could it be codified?
- 6 ‘… Quae ad ius Cathalanicum pertinet’: the civil law of Catalonia, ius commune and the legal tradition
- 7 The codification of Catalan civil law
- 8 Unification of the European law of obligations and codification of Catalan civil law
- 9 From revocation to non-opposability: modern developments of the Paulian action
- 10 Epistle to Catalonia: romance and rentabilidad in an anglophone mixed jurisdiction
- 11 Estonia and the new civil law
- 12 The positive experience of the Civil Code of Quebec in the North American common law environment
- 13 From the code civil du bas Canada (1866) to the code civil Quebecois (1991), or from the consolidation to the reform of the law: a reflection for Catalonia
- 14 The evolution of the Greek civil law: from its Roman–Byzantine origins to its contemporary European orientation
- Index
11 - Estonia and the new civil law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The civil law in European codes
- 2 ‘A token of independence’: debates on the history and development of Scots law
- 3 The Scottish civil code project
- 4 Scots law in Europe: the case of contract
- 5 Scottish property: a system of Civilian principle. But could it be codified?
- 6 ‘… Quae ad ius Cathalanicum pertinet’: the civil law of Catalonia, ius commune and the legal tradition
- 7 The codification of Catalan civil law
- 8 Unification of the European law of obligations and codification of Catalan civil law
- 9 From revocation to non-opposability: modern developments of the Paulian action
- 10 Epistle to Catalonia: romance and rentabilidad in an anglophone mixed jurisdiction
- 11 Estonia and the new civil law
- 12 The positive experience of the Civil Code of Quebec in the North American common law environment
- 13 From the code civil du bas Canada (1866) to the code civil Quebecois (1991), or from the consolidation to the reform of the law: a reflection for Catalonia
- 14 The evolution of the Greek civil law: from its Roman–Byzantine origins to its contemporary European orientation
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Estonian experiences in reforming its civil law – or, more precisely, in developing a new civil law system – are not widely known outside the Baltic region. Obviously this is the fate of smaller nations. It will, however, not change the fact that Estonian experiences in the legislative area deserve interest as a unique experiment in the development of a totally new legal order on a comparative basis, importing foreign experience and legal concepts. This is the story of the general processes – and, indeed, somewhat unconventional practices – used in the development of Estonian civil law. As this is also a story about the rediscovery of Estonian civil law traditions and of its lost legal culture, a short excursion into its history is necessary.
Historical notes: estonian civil law tradition
Estonian civil law tradition goes way back in history. It has largely Germanic roots, mainly through the historical influence of that country in the Baltic. Though Estonia has, down the centuries, constantly changed hands between German, Swedish, Danish and Russian rulers, the upper class of the society remained dominated by Germans, at least up to the beginning of the twentieth century. The same applies to the legal tradition and laws that survived changes of power largely intact, preserving their Germanic and Roman origins. Estonian civil law is therefore a Germanic civil law.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Regional Private Laws and Codification in Europe , pp. 250 - 259Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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