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19671 LEGAL SYSTEMS<br />
www.abyssinialaw.com<br />
of the feudal system. With the termination of feudalism, a new way of<br />
defining relationships was necessary, hence the "change from contract<br />
to status" and the development of a law of contracts. 7 It is now recognized<br />
that, on the whole, the law of negligence was developed with<br />
a view toward meeting the problems of industrial activity and mechanization<br />
and was a method of restricting the liability of new enterprises.<br />
8 As those enterprises became more secure and risks were<br />
somewhat reduced, different pressures were put on the legal system,<br />
and in response to them a law relating to industrial accidents emerged,<br />
of which Workmens' Compensation, for example, is a part. Values<br />
had changed, and there was greater concern for the victim of industrialization<br />
and emphasis on the apportionment of loss resulting from<br />
industrial activity. The same kind of development took place with<br />
respect to legal institutions and procedure. 9 Since the development<br />
was a gradual and evolutionary one, it may be carefully studied and<br />
analyzed. A body of past experience can guide those responsible for<br />
the administration of the law. A basic framework has been established,<br />
and changes will take place within that framework.<br />
Today, this kind of evolutionary development cannot take place.<br />
The development must be deliberately planned and structured, and<br />
it is revolutionary in the sense that a substantially new legal system<br />
will be substituted for the old. This is so because the development of<br />
the society itself is planned and structured. The leaders of the nations<br />
now coming onto the world scene 1 ' are trying to create a completely<br />
new society; the development extends not only to a country's economic<br />
system, but inevitably affects existing social patterns and the<br />
peoples' way of life. There is dissatisfaction with conditions as they<br />
now exist, and governments are trying to bring about change through<br />
a comprehensive system of planning.<br />
TIoxS 30-31 (A. Kiralfy ed. 1958).<br />
7I. at 46-47. See also H. MAIm, AcxmsT LAw 170 (5th ed. 1873).<br />
8 The concern with limiting liability is demonstrated by judicial opinions such<br />
as those in Winterbottom v. Wright, [1842] 10 M_. & W. 109, 152 Eng. Rep. 402,<br />
and Blyth v. Birmingham Waterworks, [1856] 11 Excheq. 781, 156 Eng. Rep. 1047.<br />
See also Ives v. South Buffalo Ry., 201 N.Y. 271, 94 N.E. 431 (1911), where the<br />
court invalidated a workmen's compensation law.<br />
The French courts developed a law of negligence based on the provisions of art.<br />
1384 of the Civil Code. See generally A. VoN MzEw, THE CrviL LAw SYsTEM<br />
367-414 (1957).<br />
9 Modern procedure evolved only after experience with the restrictive and<br />
cumbersome procedure of the formulary period. The court of equity and the<br />
body of law it administered arose because of the rigidity of the common law and<br />
the dissatisfaction with the common-law courts-the stage of equity marked a<br />
definite point in the development of the Anglo-American legal system.<br />
Lo The United Nations has increased from a membership of 51 in 1945 to 122 in<br />
1967.