The Uncertain Fate of Evidentiary Transplants

Anglo-American and Continental Experiments

Bibliographic Data

ID5346760
AuthorsMirjan Damaska (Yale University, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume45
Issue4
Pages839
Publication date1997-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe American Journal of Comparative Law (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-919X • E-ISSN: 2326-9197
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/841021
OpenAlexW2095118968
LanguageEN
Citations received17

Inspiration for procedural reform i~ increasingly sought in the legal thesaurus of foreign countries. In their search for new solutions, lawyers are prone to focus almost exclusively on normative aspects of foreign arrangements, trying to ascertain whether they hold promise of advantages over domestic law. But this understandable deformation professionelle is not without its costs: the success of most procedural innovation depends less than lawyers like to think on the excellence of rules. More than in the private law domain, perhaps, the meaning and impact of procedural regulation turn on external conditions - most directly on the institutional context in which justice is administered in a particular country. If imported rules are combined with native ones in disregard of this context, unintended consequences are likely to follow in living law. And while some of these consequences can turn out to be a pleasant surprise, others can be very disappointing

Political science · Conflict of Laws and Jurisdiction · History · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal principles and applications