Traditionally, property law is considered to be an area where unification or even harmonisation is scarcely achievable, given the fundamental disparities between the various legal traditions. Particularly the differences between common law and civil law are often seen as too wide and too deep to overcome. This is what might be called the conventional wisdom. During the conference “Aspects of property law in a comparative and historical perspective”, held in Maastricht on 10 November 2000, the question arose whether this still is the correct view were property law to be analysed from a historically comparative viewpoint.
European Review of Private Law