Book Review: European Legal Cultures
| Published date | 01 June 1997 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X9700400207 |
| Author | J.G.J. Rinkes |
| Date | 01 June 1997 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book Reviews
V. G essner , A . Hoelan d and C . V arga ( eds. ), E uropean Leg al Cul tures,
Dartmouth 199 6, xv iii + 567 pa ges, hardback , £ 45, paperback, £ 25.
Tempus (the Trans-European Mo bility Scheme for University Studies) supports (in ter
alia) Join t European Projects between academic institutions in order to improve un iver
sity education in Central and Eastern Europe. In this context, the Inter national Institute
for the Sociology of Law (Onati, Spain), the Zentrum fü r Europäische Rechtspolitik
(Bremen, Germany), and the Law Faculty of the Hungarian Eötvös-Lo ränd University
(Budapest), joint ly published a textbook series on European Law and European Legal
Cultures. The series consists of collections of (original or reprinted) texts , representing
legal systems and legal cultures in several areas, such as European Economic Law and
Environmental Law, and Legal Cultures in general. The concept of the series is based
on the idea that economic and legal globalization requires - together with language skills
- knowledge of and familiarity with differe nt legal cultures. F urthermore, according to
the editors, legal education is, nowadays, in terdisciplinary. This implies that other
(neighbouring) sciences should not b e excluded. And finally, political developments in
the 1990’s have opened up the possibility f or the creation of a European legal commun
ity i n the widest geographical sense, beyond the EU , the E FTA and the EEA.
The present Volume (no. 1 in the series) seeks to ‘illuminate’ the context of the law in
Europe by exploring its many various ‘cultures’ . The concept of ‘legal cultur e’ plays
a role in this book in two of its interpretations: both the way in which the law is admin
istered in practice and the socio-legal understanding of legal cu lture are explored.
The edito rs are somewhat sceptical regarding the possibility of ‘exporting’ successful
Western Europe an legal models. Quite, one would say: essentially, the appreciat ion of
the fact that differences in legal cultures deserves much attention from legal doctrine
and practice implies an awareness of pluriformity and diversity of legal models that can
hardly be underestim ated, despite harmonization efforts from various perspectives.
Historical, economical and sociological developments have determined the environment
of law-making and legal thinking. Harmonization efforts together with the increase in
cross-bord er transactions, simply add an extra dimension to the way in which societies
MJ 4 (1997) 209
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