Studies in Legal Systems: Mixed and Mixing.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 22 September 1999
• Author: Starosta, Naomi B.
• Published date: 22 September 1999
• Author: Starosta, Naomi B.

STUDIES IN LEGAL SYSTEMS: MIXED AND MIXING, Kluwer Law International, Boston, MA (Esin Orucu, Elspeth Attwooll, & Sean Coyle, eds., 1996). ISBN 90-411-0906-4; 360pp.

Employing both academic and personal points of view, the authors in STUDIES IN LEGAL SYSTEMS: MIXED AND MIXING examine how national legal institutions are born out of the need to embrace multiculturalism and reconcile seemingly disparate legal traditions. For the societies profiled -- from more mainstream actors on the world stage like Turkey and Australia, to the more obscure such as Malta and Slovenia -- the pluralism reflected in the end result accommodates diversity by incorporating many legal traditions into a singular, national system.

In some cases, the authors explore provinces with a distinct, nationalistic character existing in tension with the larger, inclusive state. For example, in his chapter on the Canadian province of Quebec, H. Patrick Glenn explains that this strain in national relations is, in fact, personified by provincial resistance to formalizing national legal institutions. Thus, over the centuries, Quebec forged a unique jurisprudential disposition, a...