Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1991

Abstract

Greek Law, developed under the stewardship of Professor Konstantinos Kerameus, takes on his character, being a solid, careful work of first rate scholarship. It presents the Greek legal system, the substance of each part of its civil public and penal law and procedure, in a series of well-written and insightful chapters by many of the best Greek scholars (in the United States and in Greece) on each subject. The book is important, because Greece is in the Common Market and Council of Europe, and because the continental and even the common law systems owe their development to the Ro- man-Byzantine tradition. The continental civil law system was influenced by this tradition and, in turn, the modern Greek law and legal system were influenced by German, French and Swiss paradigms, so we can see the full circle.

Some of the chapters are comparative, providing the reader with not only insight into Greek law and the Greek legal system, but also insight into that of other nations as well. Indeed, a few of the chapters (Symeonides: The general principles of the Civil Law; Yiannopoulos: History, property; Kozyris: Conflicts, business associations) provide the rare opportunity to see law through the prism of top rung scholars intimately conversant in Greek, Continental, Common Law, and Mixed (Louisianian) legal thinking. This presents the reader with a banquet of rare insight into the nature of law in general, comparative law in its finest form, and understanding of how the legal analyst from each of these traditions thinks. Thus, Greek Law is a laboratory for the comparativist to delve into the mindset and analytical methodology of each of these systems. It provides in- sight not readily available elsewhere and would be an excellent tool for a course in comparative law. The other authors include many of the most prestigious legal minds in each of the fields of discussion. The book was written in English by each of the authors.

Publication Citation

39 Am. J. Comp. L. 1001 (1991).

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