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Legal Culture as Mental Software, or: How to Overcome National Legal Culture?

Jan M. Smits
Tilburg University - Tilburg Institute of Comparative and Transnational Law (TICOM); University of Helsinki - Center of Excellence in Foundations of European Law and Polity



Maastricht Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2
PRIVATE LAW AND THE MANY CULTURES OF EUROPE, Thomas Wilhelmsson, Elina Paunio, Annika Pohjolainen, eds., Alphen aan den Rijn, pp. 141-151, 2007

Abstract:     
The concept of legal culture plays an important role in the debate about the unification of private law within the European Union. The question whether national cultural differences or differences between the civil law and the common law tradition, in particular, stand in the way of establishing a uniform private law led to a fierce debate. The aim of this contribution is to offer a general account of how we should deal with legal culture in the European context. In doing so, we build upon the work of Geert Hofstede. The point is made that when discussing the Europeanization of private law, we should turn away from national legal cultures and pay more attention to so-called 'cultural segments', legal cultures that are not national but functional in nature and that cross state borders. This is not to say that such an approach can be applied easily: the problems it raises will also be discussed.

Keywords: legal culture, unification, Hofstede

JEL Classifications: A14, K10, P51

Accepted Paper Series

Date posted: August 16, 2007 ; Last revised: August 26, 2008

Suggested Citation

Smits, Jan M., Legal Culture as Mental Software, or: How to Overcome National Legal Culture?. Maastricht Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2; PRIVATE LAW AND THE MANY CULTURES OF EUROPE, Thomas Wilhelmsson, Elina Paunio, Annika Pohjolainen, eds., Alphen aan den Rijn, pp. 141-151, 2007. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1007447


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Contact Information

Jan M. Smits (Contact Author)
Tilburg University - Tilburg Institute of Comparative and Transnational Law (TICOM) ( email )
P.O. Box 90153
NL-5000 LE Tilburg Netherlands
HOME PAGE: http://www.jansmits.eu
University of Helsinki - Center of Excellence in Foundations of European Law and Polity ( email )
Porthania
P.O. Box 4
Helsinki FIN-00014
Finland
HOME PAGE: http://www.helsinki.fi/katti/foundations
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