The Institutions Of Private Law

In the English-speaking world, Karl Renner is by far the best-known among the Austro-Marxists who were active in the Austrian socialist movement during the first few decades of the twentieth century. Recognition of Renner's scholarship is due largely to the English translations of his works on Marxism, as well as to the secondary writings on his notions of socialist legality and national cultural autonomy. Renner has for over half a century been celebrated for the only book of his that has, to date, been wholly translated into English. It remains the classic socialist attempt to off er a realistic understanding of the role of the legal institution of private property in modern society: The Institutions of Private Law and Their Social Functions. In his introduction to this edition, A. Javier Trevii?1/2o discusses the volume's relevance for today, and briefly describes that aspect of Renner's life that occupied most of this time and energy: his involvement in Austrian social democratic politics. The substance of Renner's exposition remains intact. The text provides one of the best insights into the relationship between capitalism and property's economic functions. It emphasizes how this fundamental institution's application has, since the initial stage of finance capitalism, increased or diminished, been externally transformed, or inherently metamorphosed. In an age of unprecedented global financial crisis, emerging market countries, and increased government regulation, Trevii?1/2o suggests we would do well to heed the book's message. It might help us understand the complex situations we encounter today as we grapple with our hybrid identities as salaried workers and economic investors.

New Private Law Theory is pluralist, comparative, application-oriented, transnational and reflects critical approaches.

The rule of law is widely perceived to be a public law doctrine, concerned with the way in which governmental authority conforms to the dictates of law. The goal of this book is to challenge this presumption. The chapters in this volume all consider the idea that the rule of law concerns the nature of law generally and the conditions under which any relationship - that among citizens as well as that between citizens and the state - becomes subject to law. Addressing two major questions, they ask if our understanding of the rule of law is enriched by considering how and to what degree it is expressed or realized in private law, and whether our understanding of the private law is enriched by adding the principles of the rule of law to the traditional list of core private law concepts. Bringing together leading philosophers of private and public law, this volume examines key questions in a little-explored field, and will be essential reading for all those interested in the rule of law and in private law theory.

"Private Law" is a translation of Book III of "The Doctrine of Law and State," providing the detailed outworking in private law of the principles of law developed in Book II, "Principles of Law." In it, the rights of man receive full explanation within the context of higher, God-given legal principles. Thus, for Stahl human rights do not serve as the source of law but as a secondary principle subservient to a higher law. The further outworking of this concept in rights of property, contract, the law of the family, is masterfully laid out. Institutions such as property and marriage are not made the creature of will and contract but are fully explained as given realities which the human will cannot alter. This book constitutes a return to sound principles of private law and an antidote to contemporary emotivism and primacy of the will.

This 1931 book was written as a more systematic replacement for The Elementary Principles of Roman Law.

An examination of contemporary encounters between public law and private law from both theoretical and practical perspectives.