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Law and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe: The Case of Catalonia in Comparative Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2011

Extract

By the close of the nineteenth century, most continental Europeans tacitly accepted, if they thought about it at all, the notion that a civil code governed multiple personal and familial relationships in their daily lives. Like so many legislative structures, intellectual suppositions, and cultural artifacts, what was once regarded as a novel or even a major break with the past came to be understood as one of the many requisites of modernity. Contemporary historians have adopted a similarly indifferent posture, their curiosity only piqued when encountering specific provisions entangled with other political issues. In a strikingly dissimilar approach to that adopted toward penal law, they have been disinclined to explore the relationship between civil legal endeavor and political culture or the history of ideas. Only with respect to Germany have scholars considered these topics worthy of in-depth analysis; in so doing, they have demonstrated that understanding juridical culture is fundamental to appreciating the textures and peculiarities of the liberal nation state.

Type
Forum: Catalan Nationalism and Civil Codification in Nineteenth-Century Europe
Copyright
Copyright © the American Society for Legal History, Inc. 2002

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References

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17. The standard work on Spanish legal history is Valiente, Francisco Tomás y, Manual de historia del derecho español, 4th ed. (Madrid: Tecnos, 1983).Google Scholar For a critical approach to the civil code's quality and its underlying ideological suppositions, see Valiente, Francisco Tomás y, “Los supuestos ideológicos del Código Civil. El procedimiento legislativo,” in La España de la Restauración: Política, economía, legislación y cultura, ed. Delgado, José Luis García (Madrid: Siglo XXI, 1985), 369–99.Google Scholar

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28. Enrich Prat de la Riba and Pere Montanyola, “Lo [sic] Centre Escolar Catalanista, a las [sic] societats [sic] que l'apoyaren [sic] en la demanda per la creació: Càtedra de Dret Català,” El Diluvio, 11 June 1891, 4810–11; and Exposición que la Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación de Barcelona ha dirigido al Excmo. Sr. Ministro de Grada y Justicia acerca de la necesidad de modificar las disposiciones vigentes sobre incompatibilidades de los funcionarios de la carrera judicial y fiscal (Barcelona: Imprenta Barcelonesa, 1892).

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30. Trías, Conferencias, 5–6.

31. In my dissertation, I deal with the multiple divisions within the legal community concerning the proposed appendix and other issues involving property, family, and religion. See Jacobson, Stephen H., “Professionalism, Corporatism, and Catalanism: The Legal Profession in Nineteenth-Century Barcelona” (Ph.D. diss., Tufts University, 1998), 279304, 329–62.Google Scholar

32. For the intellectual origins of nationalism, see Kedourie, Elie, Nationalism, 4th ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993).Google Scholar

33. Riba, Enrie Prat de la, La nacionalitat catalana, 4th ed. (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1998), 46.Google Scholar

34. The classic study on the etymology of the word “forai” in Spain is Gallo, Alfonso Garcia, “Aportación al estudio de los fueros,” Anuario de historia del derecho español 26 (1956): 387–46.Google Scholar

35. In this respect, the difference between “common” and “forai” paralleled the general distinction in Europe between ius commune and ius proprium, or general and particular law. See Cavanna, Adriano, Storia del diritto moderno in Europa: Lefont e il pensiero giuridico (Milan: Guiffrè Editore, 1982), 193236Google Scholar; and Bellomo, The Common Legal Past of Europe, 55–111.

36. It was clear that common law promulgated since the New Order was directly applicable in Catalonia and overruled conflicting forai law. But there was dispute about where to place common law promulgated before the New Order in the hierarchy of sources used as supplementary authority. Moreover, nobody knew what source to cite when common and forai rules overlapped. For debates concerning Catalonia's supplementary law regime, see Escoda, Josep Maria Gay, “Notas sobre el derecho supletorio en Cataluña desde el decreto de Nueva Planta (1715) hasta la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Supremo (1845),” Hispania: Entre derechos propios y derechos nacionales, ed. Clavero, Bartlomé, Grossi, Paulo, and Tomás, Francisco y Valiente, (Milan: Giuffrè Editore, 1990), 2: 806–65.Google Scholar

37. See Dou, Ramón Lázaro de y Bassols, de, Instituciones del derecho público general de España con noticia del particular de Cataluña, y de las principales reglas de gobierno en cualquier estado (Madrid: García, 18001803; reprint, Barcelona: Banchs Editor, 1975), 1: 83.Google Scholar

38. Cornet, Cayetano y Mas, , Guía de Barcelona (Barcelona: Puig, 1876), 33.Google Scholar

39. It was erroneous for three reasons. First, even under the most restrictive interpretation, such exceptions included much more than just inheritance provisions. Second, a Supreme Court decision of 1845 confirmed that Catalonia's traditional hierarchy of supplementary authorities — particularly Roman and canon law — had priority over the “general laws of the nation.” Last, there was no such thing as a forai “code.”

40. The reception of Roman law in Catalonia and Iberia has generated an enormous bibliography. Some of the latest contributions and standard works include: Rius, José María Font, “La recepción del derecho romano en la Península Ibérica durante la Edad Media,” in Recueil de mémoires et travaux publié par la Société d'Histoire du Droit et des Instituions des Anciens Pays de Droit Écrit (Montpellier: Faculté de Luis María, 1967), 85104Google Scholar; and “La recepció del dret comú a la Península Ibèrica,” in Historia delpensament juridic, ed. de Montagut, Tomás (Barcelona: Universität Pompeu Fabra, 1999), 95106Google Scholar; Ferreirós, Aquilino Iglesia, “La difusión del derecho común en Cataluña,” in El drei comú i Catalunya (Barcelona: Fundació Noguera, 1991), 95284Google Scholar; and Gouron, André, La science du droit dans le Midi de la France au Moyen Age (London: Variorum Reprints, 1984), 2676.Google Scholar

41. See Prats, Joaquim, La Universitat de Cernera i el reformisme borbònic (Lleida: Pagès Editors, 1993), 293–97, 348–53Google Scholar; and Reig, Mariano Peset, “Derecho romano y derecho real en las universidades del siglo XVIII,” Anuario de historia del derecho español 45 (1975): 273339.Google Scholar

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43. Whether or not the Partidas were applicable in Catalonia was highly controversial, given that this issue folded back into the broader and seemingly never-ending question of the extent of the common law's supplementary authority in Catalonia. The Supreme Court waffled back and forth in various decisions until 1892 when they held that the Partidas were not directly applicable. See T. S. Sentences, 29 March, 21 November, 26 November, 1892. For a summary of the controversy, see Trías, Conferencias, 114.

44. Eixalá, Ramón Martí de, Tratado elementar [sic] del derecho civil romano y español, 2 vols. (Barcelona: Verdaguer, 1838).Google Scholar

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46. They did this by literally reducing the number of course hours dedicated to the Institutes, the Digest, and the Decretals. For the reform of the curriculum, see Peset, Mariano and Peset, José Luis, La universidad española (siglos XVIII y XIX): Despotismo ilustrado y revolución liberal (Madrid: Taurus, 1974), 283310, 679–706.Google Scholar

47. For the immediate reaction to the draft code, see Coderch, Pablo Salvador, “El proyecto de código civil de 1851 y el derecho civil catalán,” in La compilación y su historia: Estudios sobre la codificación y la interpretación de las leyes (Barcelona: Bosch, 1985), 7133.Google Scholar

48. The last editions were: Vives, Pedro Nolasco y Cebriá, , Traducción al Castellano de los Usages y demás derechos de Cataluña que no están derogados o no son notoriamente inútiles, con indicación del contenido de estos y de las disposiciones por las que han venido a serlo, ilustrada con notas sacadas de los más clásicos autores del Principado, 2d ed., 5 vols. (Barcelona: Font; Madrid: Plus Ultra, 18611867; reprint, Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Justícia, 1989)Google Scholar; and Elias, José Antonio and de Ferrater, Esteban, Manual de derecho civil vigente en Cataluña o sea resumen ordenado de las disposiciones del derecho real posteriores al decreto llamado de Nueva Planta y de las anteriores así del derecho municipal, como del canónico y romano, aplicables a nuestras costumbres, ed. Barcardí, Alejandro de, 3d ed. (Madrid: López; and Barcelona: Llordachs, 1885).Google Scholar

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50. For Ventosa, see Durán, Manuel y Bas, and Roure, Conrado, Sesión celebrada por el llustre Colegio de Abogados de Barcelona, el día 27 de mayo de 1886 para la inauguración de la Galería de Retratos de Jurisconsultos Catalanes (Barcelona: Imprenta Casa Provincial de Caridad, 1887), 67, 19–20.Google Scholar

51. “Congres Cátala de Jurisconsults: Sessió d'ahir, dia 21,” Diari Cátala, 22 January 1881, 166.

52. Some relevant debates, and the failure of reform proposals, are outlined in Albert Garcia i Balañà, “Ordre jurídic liberal i trajectòria de l'Acadèmia de Jurisprudéncia i Legisladó de Barcelona, 1840–1931 (A propòsit de la formáció i els límits de la política burgesa a Catalunya)” (Tesina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 1993).

53. For stem and nuclear families, see Shubert, Adrian, A Social History of Modern Spain (London: Unwin Hyman, 1990), 3536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

54. Elías, and Ferrater, , Derecho civil vigente en Cataluña, 2d ed. (Barcelona: Ginesta, 1864), art. 11.Google Scholar There were some exceptions to this rule. For example, women were prohibited under Catalan law from serving as witnesses to testaments or acting as legal guardians or trustees.

55. Falguera, Félix María, Conferencias de derecho catalán dadas en el Ateneo Barcelonés en 1870 y 1880 (Barcelona: La Anticuaría, 1889), 17.Google Scholar

56. Although the Supreme Court initially ruled in 1874 that Catalan women continued to enjoy ample contractual rights, Ministry of Justice property registration authorities handed down a series of administrative decisions abolishing such rights in 1879. See Trias, Conferencias, 179.

57. Falguera, Conferencias, 48.

58. Florencio García Goyena, Concordancias, 4: 326.

59. Cadafalch, Joaquín y Buguñá, , ¿Conviene uniformar la legislación de las diversas provincias de España sobre la sucesión hereditaria y los derechos del cónyuge sobreviviente? (Madrid: Imprenta de Colegio de Sordo Mudos y de Ciegos, 1862), 110–35.Google Scholar For an overview of Catalan scholarship defending testamentary liberty, see Clavero, Bartolomé, “Formación doctrinal contemporánea del derecho catalán de sucesiones: La primogenitura de la libertad,” in La reforma de la Compilado: El sistema successori (Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, 1984), 1037.Google Scholar

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63. Falguera, Conferencias, 81–124.

64. The most controversial institution was the so-called ldquo;rabassa morta” a customary arrangement used to harvest vines, but other forms of emphyteusis were also the source of controversy. For the rabassa morta, see Balcells, Albert, El problema agrario en Cataluña: La cuestión rabassaire (1890–1936), 2d ed. (Madrid: Ministerio de Agricultura, 1980)Google Scholar; and Ferrer i Alós, Llorenç, Pagesos, rabassaires i industrials a la Catalunya central (segles XVIII–XIX) (Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 1987).Google Scholar For other forms of emphyteusis, see Congost, Rosa, Els propietaris i els altres: La regió de Girona, 1768–1862 (Vic: Eumo Editorial, 1990)Google Scholar; and Tello, Erme, Cernera i la Segarra al segle XVIII: En els orígens d'una Catalunya pobre, 1700–1860 (Lleida: Pagés Editors, 1995).Google Scholar

65. Some other customary institutions included: capítols matrimonials (nuptial contract); herataments (inter-vivos gifts donated upon the marriage of the grantee, which took effect postmortum, after the death of the grantor); aixovar (a reverse dowry of Moslem origins); escreix (a gift made from the groom to the bride, symbolically an award for virginity but constructed to serve as a guaranty of the dowry); tenuta, any de plor, andopció dotal (laws meant to ensure transparency in the distribution of testamentary assets so that a widow's interests were not undermined). This is only a small sampling and by no means constitutes an exhaustive list.

66. For the importance of family law and marital practices in Catalan rural and even urban society, see González, Andrés Barrera, Casa, herencia y familia en la Cataluña rural (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1990)Google Scholar; and Ponce, Santi and Ferrer, Llorenç, eds., Família i canvi social a la Catalunya contemporània (s. XIX–XX) (Vic: Eumo Editorial, 1994).Google Scholar

67. The classic study of the seventeenth-century revolt is Elliott, J. H., The Revolt of the Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain, 1598–1640 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984 c1963).Google Scholar For an explanation of the juridical arguments between crown and principality preceding the eruption of violence, see Palos, Joan Lluís, Els juristes i la defensa de les Constitucions: Joan Pere Fontanella (1575–1649) (Vic: Eumo Editorial, 1997), 139–63.Google Scholar

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69. Blackstone, for example, associated Justinian's law with “the despotic monarchy of Rome and Byzantium” and “imperial tyranny,” claiming that its promoters in England had been “the monkish clergy (devoted to the will of a foreign primate).” Blackstone, William, Commentaries on the Laws of England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 17651769; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 1: 5, 18, 74.Google Scholar

70. On racial ideas in Spain, see Goode, Joshua Seth, “The Racial Alloy: The Science, Politics, and Culture of Spain, 1875–1923” (Ph.D. diss., UCLA, 1999).Google Scholar

71. Durán y Bas, Memoria, xxxiv.

72. According to contemporary scholarship, arguing that the differences between the Liber iudicorum and the Corpus iurus are equivalent to those between Roman and Germanic law is just as problematic as claiming that Catalan law was more dependent on the Corpus iuris and Castilian law on the Liber. Not only is the Liber now known to be the law of a “Romanized” Visigothic aristocracy, but we also know now that it had greater longevity in Catalonia than anywhere else in Iberia. Moreover, the Liber also contained significantly greater rights for women than other Germanic laws. See Herlihy, David, “Land, Family and Women in Continental Europe, 701–1200,” Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought and Religion 18(1962): 8991Google Scholar; and Planas, Javier Alvarado, El problema del germanismo en el derecho español, Siglos V–XI (Madrid: Marcial Pons, 1997), 211–69.Google Scholar

73. Durán y Bas, Memoria, 113–16.

74. Despite the fact that the term “emphyteusis” was extracted from the Corpus iuris, the fully elaborated legal doctrine of divided ownership, used to describe and regulate a feudal property relationship, is generally traced to the work of the fourteenth-century glossator Bartolus. In Catalonia, emphyteutical property holding arrangements achieved widespread use following the “liberation” of the remença peasants pursuant to the Sentence of Guadalupe (1485). The expression was known beforehand, although it was indistinguishable from the feud. For the feudal origins of emphyteusis and a thorough review of relevant historiography on this question in Catalonia, see Abanco, Antoni Mirambell, “De la emphyteusis,” in Comentarios al Código Civil y compilaciones forales, dir. Albaladejo, Manuel (Madrid: Edersa, 1987), 30: 166282.Google Scholar For the forging of an emphyteutical, seignorial property regime, see Vilar, Pierre, Cataluña en la España moderna: Las transformaciones agrarias, trans. Roca, Laura (Barcelona: Crítica, 1987), 2: 399407Google Scholar; and Serra, Eva Puig and Garrabou, Ramon, “L'agricoltura catalana nei s. XVI–XX,” Studi Storici 21 (1980): 339–62.Google Scholar For the doctrinal origins of divided ownership, see Whitman, Legacy of Roman Law, 167, and his corresponding citations.

75. Although, in the high middle ages, jurists in Catalonia and much of Europe interpreted the Corpus iuris to benefit elective primogeniture and stem family organization, the laws of late antiquity favored a more equal distribution of testamentary property. For the influence of the reception of Roman law on the transformation of medieval inheritance practices, see Hughes, Diane Owen, “Struttura familiare e sistemi di successione ereditaria nei testamenti dell'Europa medievale,” Quaderni Storici 33 (1976): 928–52Google Scholar; and Udina i Abelló, Antoni M., La successió testada a la Catalunya altomedieval (Barcelona: Fundació Noguera, 1984).Google Scholar For the underlying changes in medieval society promoting stem family organization, see Herlihy, David, Medieval Households (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985), 9298Google Scholar; Bensch, Stephen P., Barcelona and Its Rulers, 1096–1291 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 234–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Lluis To Figueras, , Família i hereu a la Catalunya nord-oriental (segles X–;XII) (Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 1998).Google Scholar

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79. The alternative explanation, as articulated by Josep Balari, held that inhabitants known as “castlanes” or “catlanes”were both derived from the term “castellanus,” a feudal relationship implanted by the Franks in the Marca Hispánica, in which the vassals held “castles” in feud of a higher lord. Interestingly, although neither this etymology nor that of “Gotholandia” has been entirely discredited, the most plausible explanation recognized today traces the root of the term “Catalunya” back to a people of Gaul, known as “Catalauni,” who went down in fame after Atilla the Hun was defeated on the “Campos Catalaunicos” (today, Châlons sur-Marne) in 451. As such, the geographical description “Catalunya” in twelfth-century documents made reference to the heroic, Gallican origins of the Counts of Barcelona and their vassals who were then significantly expanding their territory through conquest. See Balari y Jovany, José, Orígenes históricos de Cataluña (Barcelona: Jepús, 1899), 2829Google Scholar; and Moll, Francese de B., Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear (Palma de Mallorca: Editorial Moll, 1988), 3: 4648.Google Scholar

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81. For Coroleu's federal-republican interpretation, see Coroleu, José, Los fueros de Cataluña y la sociedad política moderna: Discurso pronunciado en la sesión inaugural del Ateneo Barcelonés en 26 de noviembre de 1889 por su presidente (Barcelona: Tasso, 1890), 25.Google Scholar

82. Oliver, Bienvenido, Estudios históricos sobre el derecho civil en Cataluña (Barcelona: Tasso, 1867).Google Scholar

83. A similar purpose lay behind his extensive commentary on the Customs de Tortosa. Oliver, Bienvenido, Historia del derecho en Cataluña, Mallorca y Valencia: Código de las Costumbres de Tortosa, 4 vols. (Madrid: Ginesta, 18761881).Google Scholar

84. For this tradition, see Kelley, Donald R., Foundations of Modern Historical Scholarship: Language, Law, and History in the French Renaissance (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970).Google Scholar For its persistence within nineteenth-century German thought, see Whitman, Legacy of Roman Law, 69–79.

85. See Falguera, Conferencias, 11.

86. “El Congreso Catalán de Jurisconsultos,” Diario de Barcelona, 2 March 1881, 2596–98; 16 March 1881, 3184–87; 2 April 1881, 3901–3; 30 April 1881, 5107–10; 21 May 1881, 6029–32; 22 June 1881, 7438–41.

87. Romaní y Puigdengolas, Francisco, Antigüedad de regionalismo español (Barcelona: Henrich, 1890), 287–305.Google Scholar

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90. See Eixalá, Ramón Martí de, Curso de filosofía elementar [sic] comprendido a teoría de las ideas, la gramática general y la lógica (Barcelona: Grau, 1841)Google Scholar; and Javier Llorens y Barba, Francisco, Lecciones de filosofía, explicadas en la Universidad Literaria de Barcelona durante los cursos de 1864–1865 y 1867–1868 taquigrafiadas por su discípulo Dr. D. José Balari y Jovany, Catedrático de Taquigrafió, 3 vols. (Barcelona: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Barcelona, 1920).Google Scholar

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92. For a list of accusations commonly leveled against Savigny, see Klenner, Hermann, “Savigny's Research Program of the Historical School of Law and Its Intellectual Impact in Nineteenth-Century Berlin,” American Journal of Comparative Law 37.1 (Winter 1989): 6770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The most famous English-language critique is Kantorowicz, Hermann, “Savigny and the Historical School of Law,” Law Quarterly Review 53 (1937): 326–43.Google Scholar

93. For a thorough treatment of Savigny and the relationship of his project to a Holy Roman imperial constitutionalist tradition, see Whitman, Legacy of Roman Law, 66–150, passim.

94. Savigny's famous manifesto against codification, Vom Beruf unserer Zeit für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft, was never translated into Spanish or Catalan in the nineteenth century, although it was often cited. There is an English translation: Savigny, Frederick Charles von, Of the Vocation of Our Age for Legislation and Jurisprudence, trans. Hayward, Abraham (London: Littlewood, 1831Google Scholar; reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1975). I use a Spanish translation and compilation based on one of the standard German editions: Savigny, Friedrich Carl von, “De la vocación de nuestra época para la legislación y la ciencia del derecho (1814),” in Thibaut y Savigny. La codificación: Una controversia programática basada en sus obras, ed. Stern, Jacques, trans. José Díaz García (Madrid: Aguilar, 1970), 49169.Google Scholar

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97. The operative choice-of-law provision was contained in a constimeló promulgated during Corts convoked by Philip II in Barcelona in 1599 (ley 1, título 30, libro I, Constituciones del Principado). See Vives, Usages y demás derechos de Cataluña, 1: 112–16. Although there was some controversy over whether this provision had survived the New Order, it was reconfirmed by the Supreme Court in 1845. See Gay Escoda, “Notas sobre derecho supletorio,” 864–65.

98. Manuel Durán y Bas, “Prólogo,” in de Savigny, F. C., Sistema del derecho romano actual, trans. Mesía, Jacinto and Poley, Manuel from the French version translated by Ch. Guenoux (Madrid: Góngora, 18781879), 1: vi-xxxix.Google Scholar

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101. See John, Politics and the Law, 15⁁41.

102. Diario de Sesiones de Cortes: Congreso de Diputados, 8 June 1885, appendix 10, 1–3; and Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación de Barcelona, Dictamen sobre la codificación propuesta en el Real Decreto de 2 febrero de 1880 (Barcelona: Imprenta Barcelonesa, 1881).Google Scholar

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104. See above, note 4.

105. Prat de la Riba, Enrich and Montanyola, Pere, Compendi de la doctrina catalanista (Sabadell: Impremta de Lo Catalanista, 1894), 7.Google Scholar

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107. This label was coined in 1883. See Durán y Bas, Manuel, “La escuela jurídica catalana,” in Escritos jurídicos, ed. Ribera, Luciano (Barcelona: Oliveres, 1888), 347–74.Google Scholar It is still in use. See Pàmies, Montserrat Figueras, La escuela jurídica catalana frente a la codificación española: Durán y Bas, su pensamiento jurídico-filosófico (Barcelona: Bosch, 1987).Google Scholar

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109. He employs a slightly different list. John, Michael, “The Peculiarities of the German State: Bourgeois Law and Society in the Imperial Era,” Past and Present, n. 119 (May 1988): 106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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112. For other appreoches to historiography and nationalism in Spain, see Marin, Paloma Cirujano, Planes, Teresa Elorriaga, Garzón, Juan Sisino Pérez, Historiografía y nacionalismo español (1834–1868) (Madrid: CSIC, 1985)Google Scholar; and Boyd, Carolyn P., Historia Patria: Politics, History, and National Identity in Spain, 1875–1975 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).Google Scholar

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114. See Baker, J. H., An Introduction to English Legal History, 2d ed. (London: Butterworths, 1979), 32.Google Scholar He cites Levack, B. P., “The Proposed Union of English Law and Scots Law,” Juridical Review 20 (1975): 97115.Google Scholar