Comparative Succession Law: Volume II: Intestate Succession
Kenneth Reid, Marius de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann
Abstract
This book, the second of two volumes, considers the rules which apply where a person dies either without leaving a valid will, or leaving a will which fails to dispose of all of the person's assets. Among the questions considered are the following. What is the nature of the rules for the disposal of the deceased's assets? Are they mechanical or is there an element of discretion? Are particular types of property dealt with in particular ways? Is there entitlement to individual assets (as opposed to money)? Do the rules operate a parentelic system or a system of some other kind? Are spouses trea ... More
This book, the second of two volumes, considers the rules which apply where a person dies either without leaving a valid will, or leaving a will which fails to dispose of all of the person's assets. Among the questions considered are the following. What is the nature of the rules for the disposal of the deceased's assets? Are they mechanical or is there an element of discretion? Are particular types of property dealt with in particular ways? Is there entitlement to individual assets (as opposed to money)? Do the rules operate a parentelic system or a system of some other kind? Are spouses treated more favourably than children? What provision is made for extra-marital children, for adopted children, for step-children? Does cohabitation give rise to entitlement? How are same-sex couples treated? Broader questions also arise of a historical and comparative nature. Where, for example, do the rules in intestate succession come from in particular legal systems? Have they been influenced by the rules in other countries? How are the rules explained and how are they justified? To what extent have they changed over time? What are the long-term trends? And finally, are the rules satisfactory, and is there pressure for their reform? As in the previous volume, the focus is on Europe, and on countries which have been influenced by the European experience such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States of America, Quebec, and the countries of Latin America. A further chapter is devoted to Islamic Law. The book opens with a chapter on Roman law and concludes with an assessment of the overall development of the law in the countries surveyed, and with some wider reflections on the nature and purpose of the law of intestate succession.
Keywords:
will,
assets,
paretelic system,
children,
adopted children,
step-children,
cohabitation,
entitlement,
Europe,
Roman law
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198747123 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2015 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198747123.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Kenneth Reid, editor
Professor of Scots Law, University of Edinburgh
Marius de Waal, editor
Professor of Private Law, Stellenbosch University
Reinhard Zimmermann, editor
Director of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign Private and Private International Law, Hamburg, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Law
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