PREFACE THE first edition of the English translation of Professor Sohm's 'Institutes' was based on the fourth edition of the German original. The present (the second) edition is based on the eighth and ninth German editions, which were published simultaneously about the middle of last year. As compared with the earlier editions, the seventh German edition contained a large number of alterations and additions, the greater part of which were due, directly or indirectly, to the passing of the German Civil Code. The latest German editions (the eighth and ninth) differ only in details from the seventh. The nature and purpose of the principal alterations and additions are sufficiently explained in Professor Grueber's Introduction, and in the opening sections of the book itself. In this place it will be enough to state briefly where the more substantial alterations and additions are to be found. §§ 2 to 5 have been rewritten in view of the changes caused by the German Civil Code. The greater part of § 7 I (The Conception of Law and the Legal System) is new. In § 8 the portion dealing with legal Interpretation (pp. 30, 31) has been enlarged. §§ 9 and 10 and the concluding part of § 11 (pp. 54, 55) are new. The section on 'The Beginnings of the Jus Gentium' (§ 13) has been altered and enlarged. The Praetorian Edict is more fully dealt with than in the first English edition. The subject-matter of what was formerly § 14 has been distributed (with minor alterations) over the present §§ 15 and 17, and a new section (§ 16) has been added. The history of Roman law during the Empire (§ 16 of the former edition) has been amplified, and is now dealt with in two sections (§§ 19 and 20), pp. 112 ff. down to the end of § 19 being new. §§ 23 to 28 are new (see Professor Grueber's Introduction, p. xviii). The opening part of the section on 'The System of Private Law' (§ 29) has been enlarged. There has been a considerable change in the exposition of the Law of Persons. In the former edition the conception of a 'person,' and the two kinds of persons ('natural' and 'juristic') formed the subject-matter of a single section (§ 20). In the present edition, after an introductory section (§ 30), the greater part of which is new, separate chapters are devoted to natural and juristic persons respectively. In the chapter on natural persons § 31 is, for the most part, new. The chapter on juristic persons consists of two sections, one of which (§ 37) reproduces (with considerable alterations and additions; see especially the long note on p. 203) the contents of the former § 20 so far as it dealt with juristic persons, while the other (§ 38) is entirely new. In § 40 the last two paragraphs (dealing with 'real' and obligatory' agreements and with 'negotia mortis causa' and 'negotia inter vivos' respectively) are new. The greater part of § 43 I and III is new. The account of Representation contained in § 32 of the former edition has been considerably modified in the present § 45. §§ 49 and 50 have been revised and enlarged in the light, more particularly, of Professor Wlassak's recent researches (v. p. 262, note 10), pp. 255 to 259 being new. The part dealing with Execution (§ 55 III) has been altered, and note 3 on p. 303 is new. § 60 is, for the most part, new. The section on Traditio (§ 63 I) has been revised and enlarged, the last paragraph (p. 332) and note 1 being entirely new. In the section on Possession (§ 67) notes 1 and 2 are new, and note 5 (on precarium) has been enlarged. The opening part of the section (§ 72) on Pledges (pp. 372, 373) has been altered. The section on' The Conception of an Obligation' (§ 73) has been enlarged. The Appendix to § 75 is new. The section on Literal Contracts (§ 81) has been rewritten, the author having abandoned the theory set forth in the third and fourth German editions (and in the first English edition) in favour of the older theory of Keller. Note 3 on p. 414 is new. The observations on Sale (§ 82) have been somewhat altered and enlarged, notes 1 and 2, and the last paragraph on p. 418, being new. In the section on Marriage (§ 92) the paragraph beginning 'At first marriages' (p. 474) is new. The section on donationes propter nuptias (§ 96) has been altered. There are changes in the section on the 'Termination of Marriage' (§ 97). Note I (p. 495), which is new, explains the reason for these changes. The account of usucapio pro herede (formerly in § 97, now in § 110, pp. 540, 541) has been rewritten. In § 114 the paragraph on Collatio (p. 590) is new. In addition to the changes enumerated, the present edition contains several references to, and extracts from, the German Civil Code. In this, as in the earlier edition, my sole object has been to produce a faithful translation of Professor Sohm's treatise. I have accordingly adhered in every particular to the arrangement adopted in the original. The English text follows the German text as closely as possible, and the footnotes are all (with the exception of those indicated by asterisks) the author's own. The renderings of certain terms in the original, for which (so far as I am aware) no recognized English equivalents exist―e. g. 'obligatory right' ('Forderungsrecht'; see note on p. 326), 'petitory action' (' petitorische Klage'), 'heir by necessity' ('Noterbe'), and others-necessarily sound somewhat strange and unfamiliar. The objection to the use of more familiar terms (if any such can be found) is that it often tends to import into the translation associations which are quite foreign to the original. In the new §§ 37 and 38 Verein' has been rendered by 'society.' A perusal of these sections will, I think, show that the term chosen, though open to objection, is preferable to either 'company' or 'association.' In preparing both the first and the second edition of this translation I have had the valuable assistance of Professor Grueber, of Munich. I am under a deep obligation to him for all the trouble he has taken in revising the whole MS. of the first edition, and the MS. of the new and altered portions of the second edition. The text as it now stands has been approved by Professor Grueber. There cannot, I think, be a better guarantee for its accuracy as a translation. I have also to thank Sir William Markby and Mr. E. A. Whittuck for many useful suggestions made during the progress of the first edition, and Mr. E. A. Whittuck for further help given in the earlier stages of the present edition. J. C. L. COBHAM, SURREY, Νου., 1900. |