Since the Napoleonic Code, the common evolution of private law

Author: Leon Duguit (France)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: Leon Duguit was a renowned French lawyer and political scientist, and a key figure in the modern French school of legal realism and social solidarity. From 1886, Duguit held professor and director positions at the University of Bordeaux in France and delivered lectures in countries such as the United States, Portugal, Argentina, and Romania. He dedicated his life to legal education, teaching for 42 years and becoming a famous legal educator. His work significantly influenced the development of French public law, legal philosophy, and political science at the time, with a substantial impact in Europe and America. On Constitutional Theories is one of his major works, reflecting his legal thought in a concentrated manner. During the Republican era in China, it was a foundational period for modern Chinese law. This period not only saw the publication of numerous significant monographs, such as Wang Shijie and Qian Duansheng's Comparative Constitution, Hu Changqing's General Principles of Chinese Civil Law, Huang Youchang's Roman Law and Modernity, Yang Honglie's History of the Development of Chinese Law, Cheng Shude's Laws of the Nine Dynasties, and Qu Tongzu's Chinese Law and Chinese Society, but also introduced over 400 foreign legal translations, such as Shigaku Shigetsugu's Evolution of Law and Moro Smith's The Development of Legal Thought on the Continent of Europe. These works are an essential part of the legacy of modern Chinese law. It is already quite interesting that a famous public law scholar discusses private law itself. Duguit discussed the changes in private law from the perspectives of positivism and social solidarity as a sociological approach, arguing that "rights" are a social duty or function. The principles of modern civil code—such as the inviolability of property, the autonomy of contracts, and the principle of individual responsibility—are evolving along with societal changes, with state intervention in private law becoming increasingly widespread and profound. This book holds significant academic value for the theoretical research on the foundations of modern private law.