Legal Unification through Case Law?

Supreme Courts and the Emergence of Uniform Law in the Modern Era

Edited by Martin Löhnig

Book cover: Legal Unification through Case Law?

Extent: 123 pages

Publisher: Duncker & Humblot

Subjects: German Studies

Series: Schriften zur Rechtsgeschichte

Series volume number: 242

Language: English

Paperback (Forthcoming)

(October 2026)

ISBN: 9783428199310

6.18 x 9.17 inches

Price: $102.00

On back order

Can supreme courts promote legal unification? This volume examines how judicial decision-making contributed to the emergence of uniform law in the modern era. Through case studies from Central and Eastern Europe and the British Empire, it highlights the role of courts as agents of legal integration, legal development, and doctrinal harmonisation.


Can courts create legal unity? This volume explores the role of supreme courts in the emergence of uniform law in the modern era. While legal unification is commonly associated with legislation and codification, the contributions collected here demonstrate that judicial decision-making has often been an equally important force in overcoming legal fragmentation. Through case studies from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, and the British Empire, the authors examine how supreme courts shaped legal development, harmonised divergent legal traditions, and established common interpretative frameworks across complex legal landscapes. The volume highlights the interaction between adjudication, legal scholarship, and legislation, revealing the judiciary as a central actor in processes of legal integration. It offers fresh perspectives on the relationship between courts, legal change, and the creation of uniform law.

Martin Löhnig
Introduction

Kamila Staudigl-Ciechowicz
Legal Harmonisation between Austria and Germany before the Partial Amendments [Teilnovellen] to the Austrian General Civil Code (ABGB)?

Martin Löhnig
The Austrian ABGB in the Case Law of the VIII. Civil Senate of the German Reichsgericht 1939–1945

David B. Schorr
The Creation of »Colonial Law« in British Legal Literature

László Ádám Joó
The Role of the Hungarian Royal Curia in the Unification of Private Law in the Bourgeois Era

Mehmed Bećić
The Supreme Court for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Unification of Judicial Practice in Civil Cases

Bartosz Kamil Truszkowski
The Supreme Court of the Second Polish Republic on Civil Status Records. Case Law Review and Statistical Summary

  • Edited by Martin Löhnig