The Spanish Civil Code of 1889, in keeping with the liberal ideas of the period, refrained from legislating on the principle of preferential acquisition. However, some pre-emption rights have survived in certain regional laws, in spite of severe criticism, which proposed its restriction or even its abolition. This study tries to show that those rights, still existing in the Civil Codes of Aragon, Catalonia, Navarre and the Basque country, serve a social function that deserves to be protected. In 1951 the Swiss legislator integrated a similar right, the parental pre-emption right (reformed in 1991). We analyse the similarities and differences between this institution and their Spanish counterparts and assess their importance in our time.
European Review of Private Law