Party Autonomy in International Property Law - Peace Palace Library

A. General Aspects of Party Autonomy
‘Civilian doctrine has so little doubt that a closed list of real rights is
necessary that its justifications are perfunctory.’ 31
In 1987, he and the Swiss scholar Bénédict Foëx each contributed independently
to a greater understanding of the reasons for having a numerus
clausus. 32 Further analysis was carried out within the law and economics
movement; Merrill and Smith, on the one hand, and Hansmann and
Kraakman, on the other, later deepened and refined the economic analysis
of the numerus clausus principle.
The reasons for a numerus clausus can be grouped into three clusters. The
first has an ethical dimension: the numerus clausus serves to protect basic
freedoms. When drafting the French Code civil, the French legislature
sought to abolish old feudal rights that violated the fundamental freedoms
of citizens. In addition, one of the objectives of the French Revolution
was to obtain better protection of private property against expropriation
by the sovereign without compensation. Both aims were achieved through
the enactment of a statutory scheme in respect of property rights which
scheme excluded property rights that were overly burdensome, banned
many types of obligations in faciendo arising from property rights and incorporated
an absolute notion of ownership that was immune from unfettered
intervention by the state. The French Conseil Constitutionnel made
clear in 1982 that the link between property and fundamental rights has
not diminished in modern times:
‘Si, postérieurement à 1789 et jusqu’à nos jours, les finalités et les conditions
d’exercice du droit de propriété ont subi une évolution, caractérisée
à la fois par une notable extension de son champ d’application
à des domaines individuels nouveaux et par des limitations exigées par
l’intérêt général, les principes mêmes énoncés par la Déclaration des
droits de l’homme ont pleine valeur constitutionnelle tant en ce qui
concerne le caractère fondamental du droit de propriété dont la conservation
constitue l’un des buts de la société politique et qui est mis
au même rang que la liberté, la sûreté et la résistance à l’oppression,
31
Rudden, o.c. 1987, p. 249.
32
Bénédict Foëx, Le “numerus clausus” des droits réels en matière mobilière,
Collection Juridique Romande, Payot, Lausanne, 1987. See further: Wiegand,
o.c. 1987, p. 623-643, and Wiegand, o.c. 1990, p. 112-138.
70
T.H.D. Struycken
© sellier. european law publishers
www.sellier.de