This third volume in a series on Comparative Succession Law concerns the entitlement of family members to override the provisions of a deceased person's will to obtain money or assets (or more money or assets) from the person's estate. Some countries, notably those in the civil law tradition (such as France or Germany), confer a pre-ordained share of the deceased's estate or of its value on certain members of the deceased's family, and especially on the deceased's children and spouse. Other countries, notably those in the common law tradition (such as England, Canada, or Australia), leave the matter to the discretion of the court, the amount awarded depending primarily on financial need. Whichever form it takes, mandatory family provision is both a protection against disinheritance and also, therefore, a restriction on testamentary freedom.The volume focuses on Europe and on countries influenced by the European experience. In addition to detailed treatment of the law in Austria, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Scotland, and Spain, the book also has chapters on Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, Canada, the countries of Latin America, and the People's Republic of China. Some other countries are covered more briefly, and there is a separate chapter on Islamic law. The book opens with accounts of Roman law and of the law in medieval and early-modern Europe, and it concludes with a comparative assessment of the law as it is today in the countries and legal traditions surveyed in this volume.
Show moreThis third volume in a series on Comparative Succession Law concerns the entitlement of family members to override the provisions of a deceased person's will to obtain money or assets (or more money or assets) from the person's estate. Some countries, notably those in the civil law tradition (such as France or Germany), confer a pre-ordained share of the deceased's estate or of its value on certain members of the deceased's family, and especially on the deceased's children and spouse. Other countries, notably those in the common law tradition (such as England, Canada, or Australia), leave the matter to the discretion of the court, the amount awarded depending primarily on financial need. Whichever form it takes, mandatory family provision is both a protection against disinheritance and also, therefore, a restriction on testamentary freedom.The volume focuses on Europe and on countries influenced by the European experience. In addition to detailed treatment of the law in Austria, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Scotland, and Spain, the book also has chapters on Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, Canada, the countries of Latin America, and the People's Republic of China. Some other countries are covered more briefly, and there is a separate chapter on Islamic law. The book opens with accounts of Roman law and of the law in medieval and early-modern Europe, and it concludes with a comparative assessment of the law as it is today in the countries and legal traditions surveyed in this volume.
Show morePreface
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors
1: Reinhard Zimmermann: Protection Against Being Passed Over or
Disinherited in Roman Law
2: Sebastian Lohsse: Passing Over and Disinheritance in the Days of
the Ius Commune
3: Thomas Rüfner: Customary Mechanisms of Family Protection: Late
Medieval and Early Modern Law
4: Cécile Pérès: Compulsory Portion in France
5: Alexandra Braun: Forced Heirship in Italy
6: Sergio Cámara Lapuente: Forced Heirship in Spain
7: Jan Peter Schmidt: Forced Heirship and Family Provision in Latin
America
8: Christiane Wendehorst: Compulsory Portion and Other Aspects of
Family Protection in Austria
9: Reinhard Zimmermann: Compulsory Portion in Germany
10: Wilbert D Kolkman: Compulsory Portion and Family Provision in
the Netherlands
11: Lajos Vékás: Compulsory Portion in Hungary
12: Frederyk Zoll: Compulsory Portion in Poland
13: Roger Kerridge: Family Provision in England and Wales
14: Kenneth G C Reid: Legal Rights in Scotland
15: Nicola Peart and Prue Vines: Family Provision in New Zealand
and Australia
16: Marius J de Waal: Family Provision in South Africa
17: Alexandra Popovici and Lionel Smith: Freedom of Testation and
Family Claims in Canada
18: Ronald J Scalise Jr: Family Protection in the United States of
America
19: Jens M Scherpe and Thomas Eeg: Compulsory Portion and Minimum
Inheritance in Norway
20: Knut Benjamin Pißler and Timo Kleinwegener: Necessary Portion
in China
21: Nadjma Yassari: Compulsory Heirship and Freedom of Testation in
Islamic Law
22: Reinhard Zimmermann: Mandatory Family Protection in the
Civilian Tradition
23: Kenneth G C Reid: Mandatory Family Protection in the Common Law
Tradition
24: Kenneth G C Reid, Marius J de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann:
Mandatory Family Protection in Historical and Comparative
Perspective
Index
Kenneth Reid taught law at the University of Edinburgh from 1980
until his retirement in 2019. He was appointed to the Chair of
Property Law in 1994 and to the Chair of Scots Law in 2008. From
1995 to 2005 he served as a Scottish Law Commissioner, where he was
responsible for a major programme of reform of land law,
subsequently implemented by legislation. His many publications
focus on property law, the law of succession, trusts law, legal
history, and comparative
law. Marius de Waal has been Professor of Private Law in the
Department of Private Law, Faculty of Law, at the University of
Stellenbosch since 1992. He teaches the law of succession and the
law of
trusts and he is the co-author of standard handbooks in these areas
of South African law. Apart from the law of succession and the law
of trusts, his publications also include contributions on the law
of property and comparative law. He is currently Head of the
Department of Private Law in the Faculty of Law. Reinhard
Zimmermann is a Director of the Max Planck Institute for
Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, Honorary
Professor at the University of Edinburgh, Affiliate
Professor at Bucerius Law School, and has been Visiting Professor
at the Universities of Edinburgh, Stellenbosch, New Orleans,
Chicago, Berkeley, Yale, and Auckland. He is the author of numerous
books on
comparative law and legal history, including The Law of Obligations
(OUP, 1996) and The New German Law of Obligations (OUP, 2005).
The freedom afforded to authors has allowed for rich analysis...
exploring how the law in each jurisdiction has developed.
*Frankie McCarthy, University of Glasgow*
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
