Party Autonomy in International Property Law - Peace Palace Library

A. General Aspects of Party Autonomy
the fundamental debate on whether the numerus clausus is limited to
the traditional property rights, being ownership and the limited property
rights, i.e. (i) servitude (erfdienstbaarheid), (ii) usufruct (vruchtgebruik),
(iii) emphyteusis (erfpacht), (iv) superficies (opstalrecht), (v) mortgage (hypotheekrecht)
and (vi) pledge (pandrecht), or whether the numerus clausus
also encompasses ‘modern’ types of property rights such as rights to goodwill
and internet domain names.
3.3. Origin of the numerus clausus
It is generally assumed that the numerus clausus is a German invention
that was developed by the Pandectists in the 19 th century and incorporated
in the 1900 draft of the BGB as one of its fundamental principles.
Without any doubt, the restrictions on party autonomy in the law of
property formed an essential part of the model for private law that was
developed by Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779-1861) and his followers. 17
Other elements of this model were a new abstract, absolute and total concept
of ownership, the notion of a thing that excludes intangible assets,
a strict specificity requirement for property rights, a rejection of transfer
restrictions with proprietary effect, the autarky of the law of property visà-vis
the law of obligations and general protection for bona fide acquirers
against a defect in the transferor’s title. As it is now understood by most
scholars, the numerus clausus is deeply rooted in 19 th century German
legal thinking.
However, an investigation of the Dutch sources shows that the numerus
clausus of property rights was incorporated in very clear words in early
drafts for a new Dutch civil code around 1800, most articulately in an
1816 draft by Joan Melchior Kemper (1776-1824). Kemper’s draft stated
explicitly that the only rights one could have in the property of another
17
See Wolfgang Wiegand, Numerus clausus der dingliche Rechte – Zur Entstehung
und Bedeutung eines zentralen zivilrechtlichen Dogmas, in: Wege europäischer
Rechtsgeschichte (Festschrift Karl Kroeschell), Rechtshistorische
Reihe Band 60, 1987, p. 623-643; see also Wiegand, Die Entwicklung des
Sachenrechts im Verhältnis zum Schuldrecht, AcP 190 (1990), p. 112-138,
and Wiegand, Funktion und systematische Stellung des Sachenrechts im BGB,
in: 100 Jahre BGB – 100 Jahre Staudinger, Beiträge zum Symposion vom 18.-
20. Juni 1998 in München, p. 107-126. See also Füller, o.c. 2006.
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T.H.D. Struycken
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