Rechtstransfer

Abstract

In 1905 the historian Georg von Below published a book on the reasons for the reception of Roman law in Germany. The 19th century theories on reception worked with certain distinctions which are analyzed and interpreted by M. Th. Fögen and G. Teubner. Especially prominent were two pairs of distinctions: (1) »inside / outside«, whereby the relation of the legal system and its »environment « is adressed, and (2) »necessary / contingent«, which may be translated as loose or intensive coupling of the legal system with other social systems. In contrast to von Below, one can nowadays hardly speak of legal transfers as such. Rather – as one learns also from the articles of M. Aschke and M. Aslan – so called legal transfers appear as processes of border-crossing by which legal norms undergo a re-signification at their new location.