Feudal Law: the Real Ius Commune of Property in Europe, or: Should We Reintroduce Duplex Dominium?

Once Europe knew of a "European common law", the so-called Ius Commune. This old Ius Commune is nowadays considered to be a possible source of inspiration for a future common European Law. But apart from the Law of Obligations, there are few examples of such a new legal order. This is only logical, since the Law of Property of old used to be local and regional, that is, outside the Ius Commune. However, the feudal system of land tenure existed everywhere in Europe, and thus, became part of the Ius Commune. The basic idea of this feudal system was that of divided property. Both the feudal lord and the feudatory were owners of the tenure, both with different rights, though. This theory was quite flexible, and was thus applied to any kind of property. Alas, this idea of divided property disappeared with the demise of the feudal system at around 1800. However, the author is of the opinion that a revival of this idea could prove beneficial for the law. The possibility to combine several variants of property within Europe into a common concept would, beyond doubt, amount to a great improvement in the law of an ever-tighter Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]