NOTICE: Mixed legal systems at new frontiers

Note the publication of Esin Örücü (ed), Mixed Legal Systems at New Frontiers (2010) by Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing. Part of the JCL [Journal of Comparative Law] Studies in Comparative Law Series,

The aim of this volume is to provide the reader with original views on and insight into mixed legal systems in general, and some mixed legal systems and ongoing mixes in particular.

The hope is that the analyses to be found in the eleven contributions will be helpful for scholars, students and practitioners who have a general interest in comparative law and a special interest in mixed legal systems, and provide inspiration to pursue further inquiries.

The contributions are a selection of papers presented at the 2007 Second World Congress of the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists, 'The Boundaries of Unity: Mixed Systems in Action'. As can he gleaned from the title of the Congress, the emphasis has shifted from the closed family of 'mixed jurisdictions' towards a wider embrace, considering 'mixed systems', in addition to the classical 'mixed jurisdictions".

Following the introduction, the first two pieces inform the reader of the multiplicity of approaches to mixed legal systems and widen the horizon, offering expansion, though retaining exclusivity. Then follow chapters throwing new light on Commonwealth Caribbean, United States Novojo law, Turkey, South Africa, Sri Lanka, England and Ireland, the European Union, and Public International Law and International Trade Law; all showing that we are entering an era of legal studies involving looking at all legal systems anew.

The contributions are

• Esin Örücü, 'General introduction: mixed legal systems at new frontiers'
• Vernon Valentin Palmer, 'Two rival theories of mixed legal systems'
• Esin Örücü, 'What is a mixed legal system: exclusion or expansion?'
• Jane Matthews Glenn, 'Mixed jurisdictions in the Commonwealth Caribbean: mixing, unmixing, remixing'
• Dale Beck Furnish, 'The law of the Navajo Nation: a three-ingredent mix of consensual (indigeous) and adversary (common law) systems'
• Esin Örücü, 'Turkey's synthetic legal system and her indigenous socio-cuture(s) in a "covert" mix'
• Marissa Herbst and Willemien Du Plessis, 'Customary law v common law marriages: a hybrid approach in South Africa'
• Christa Rauterbach, 'Mixing South African common law and customary law of intestate succession: "Potjiekos" in the making'
• Anton Cooray, 'Oriental and occidental laws in harmony: the case of trusts in Sri Lanka'
• Seán Patrick Donlan, '"All this together make up our Common law": legal hybridity in England and Ieland, 1704-1804'
• Jan M Smits, 'Mixed jurisdictons: lessons for European harmonisation'
• Colin B Picker, 'Beyond the usual suspects: application of the mixed jurisdiction methodology to public international law and international trade law'

I'm biased as a contributor, but this really is a must read for all comparatists. It shows the strength of both a productive focus on the 'classical' mixed jurisdictions and the promise of expanding research to more exotic hybrid legal traditions.