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17 Stan. J. Int'l L. 357 (1981)
On the Convergence (and Divergence) of the Civil Law and the Common Law

handle is hein.journals/stanit17 and id is 367 raw text is: On the Convergence (and Divergence) of the Civil Law and the Common Law* JOHN HENRY MERRYMAN** The author desertes the forces making the Common Law and Civil Law converge and the strategies employed by those who promote convergence. He observs that signifant particularizing forces are also at work, produing legal diveoence. The growth of individual nghts in Western nations, the increaing vanety and autonomy of privale organizations, and the transfer of state power to local and regional governments all make Western legal system more heterogenous than thqy were a centuy ago. This movement toward internal diversity and complexity, which is going on irregularlp and uneven# in the short term but massively and with apparent inevitability if one takes the longer view, indicates that the Common Law and the Civil Law are, in the most fundamental sense, converging toward fller realiza- tion of the values of western Culture. Nec erit alia lex Romae, alia Athenis, alia nunc, alia post- hac, sed et omnes gentes, et omni tempore una lex et sempiterna et immutabilis continebit. CICERO, Rep. III. 33 on ne voit rien de juste ou d'injuste qui ne change de qualit6 en changeant de climat. Trois degr6s d'6lvation du pfle renversent toute la jurisprudence; un mridien d~cide de la v~rit6; en peu dann~es de possession, les lois fondamentales changeant; le droilt a ses 6poques; l'entr& de Saturne au Lion nous marque l'origine d'un tel crime. Plaisante justice qu'une rivi~re borne! Vrit6 au deqi des Pyrenees, erreur au deli. PASCAL, Pens es Differences between legal systems have been regarded, at least from the time of Cicero, as evils or inconveniences to be overcome. A * This article was originally presented at a conference on New Perspectives for a Common Law of Europe, organized by Professor Mauro Cappelletti and held at the European University Institute in Florence in May, 1977. The conference papers were published in NEW PERSPE-IVES FOR A COMMON LAW OF EUROPE, (M. Cappelletti ed. 1978). The author is grateful to Professor Eric Stein, who read a draft of the article and made a number of suggestions for its improvement, and to Dr. Carolyn E. Carter for invaluable research assistance. ** Nelson Bowman Sweitzer & Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law, Stanford Law School.

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