Comparative Succession Law

Volume III: Mandatory Family Protection

Edited by Kenneth G C Reid, Marius J de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann

Provides a chapter-by-chapter account of disinheritance law in representative European countries as well as the USA, Canada, Latin America, China, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand
Gives a full account of the historical background to family protection through five chapters on legal history, including on Roman law and on the development of the law within the civil and common law traditions
Compares the Western legal tradition to the very different legal traditions of Communist China and of Islamic countries

Comparative Succession Law

Volume III: Mandatory Family Protection

Edited by Kenneth G C Reid, Marius J de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann

Description

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.

Comparative Succession Law

Volume III: Mandatory Family Protection

Edited by Kenneth G C Reid, Marius J de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann

Preface
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors
1. Protection Against Being Passed Over or Disinherited in Roman Law, Reinhard Zimmermann
2. Passing Over and Disinheritance in the Days of the Ius Commune, Sebastian Lohsse
3. Customary Mechanisms of Family Protection: Late Medieval and Early Modern Law, Thomas Rüfner
4. Compulsory Portion in France, Cécile Pérès
5. Forced Heirship in Italy, Alexandra Braun
6. Forced Heirship in Spain, Sergio Cámara Lapuente
7. Forced Heirship and Family Provision in Latin America, Jan Peter Schmidt
8. Compulsory Portion and Other Aspects of Family Protection in Austria, Christiane Wendehorst
9. Compulsory Portion in Germany, Reinhard Zimmermann
10. Compulsory Portion and Family Provision in the Netherlands, Wilbert D Kolkman
11. Compulsory Portion in Hungary, Lajos Vékás
12. Compulsory Portion in Poland, Frederyk Zoll
13. Family Provision in England and Wales, Roger Kerridge
14. Legal Rights in Scotland, Kenneth G C Reid
15. Family Provision in New Zealand and Australia, Nicola Peart and Prue Vines
16. Family Provision in South Africa, Marius J de Waal
17. Freedom of Testation and Family Claims in Canada, Alexandra Popovici and Lionel Smith
18. Family Protection in the United States of America, Ronald J Scalise Jr
19. Compulsory Portion and Minimum Inheritance in Norway, Jens M Scherpe and Thomas Eeg
20. Necessary Portion in China, Knut Benjamin Pißler and Timo Kleinwegener
21. Compulsory Heirship and Freedom of Testation in Islamic Law, Nadjma Yassari
22. Mandatory Family Protection in the Civilian Tradition, Reinhard Zimmermann
23. Mandatory Family Protection in the Common Law Tradition, Kenneth G C Reid
24. Mandatory Family Protection in Historical and Comparative Perspective, Kenneth G C Reid, Marius J de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann
Index

Comparative Succession Law

Volume III: Mandatory Family Protection

Edited by Kenneth G C Reid, Marius J de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann

Author Information

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).

Contributors:

Alexandra Braun
Sergio Cámara Lapuente
Marius J de Waal
Thomas Eeg
Roger Kerridge
Timo Kleinwegener
Wilbert D Kolkman
Sebastian Lohsse
Nicola Peart
Cécile Pérès
Knut Benjamin Pißler
Alexandra Popovici
Kenneth G C Reid
Thomas Rüfner
Ronald J Scalise Jr
Jens M Scherpe
Jan Peter Schmidt
Lionel Smith
Lajos Vékás
Prue Vines
Christiane Wendehorst
Nadjma Yassari
Reinhard Zimmermann
Frederyk Zoll

Comparative Succession Law

Volume III: Mandatory Family Protection

Edited by Kenneth G C Reid, Marius J de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann

Reviews and Awards

"The freedom afforded to authors has allowed for rich analysis... exploring how the law in each jurisdiction has developed." -- Frankie McCarthy, University of Glasgow