Studies in Legal Systems: Mixed and Mixing

This text explores the ways in which various legal systems are mixed or mixing jurisdictions. The contributors are experts in the jurisdictions on which they write and have direct experience of living and working within that jurisdiction. The classical frame of reference for the analysis of mixed jurisdictions uses the concept of "legal families" as its base. The problem of this approach is its reliance on a notion of mixed jurisdictions which sees them as arising at the point of contact between various legal traditions. This work argues that even the classical examples of mixed jurisdictions, such as Quebec, Australia, the European Community and the Basque Country, no longer seem to fit the mould and that a new framework is called for, or at least a more "fuzzy" approach to the theory of mixed jurisdictions. The final chapter offers some original ideas on what an alternative framework might include.