Article by Efrén Rivera Ramos
This Article illustrates how Anglo-American legal institutions and constitutional values are reflected in the mixed jurisdiction of Puerto Rico. It gives concrete examples of how, over the past century, Puerto Rico has incorporated public values and, more specifically, constitutional values and principles into its civil law. The author further argues that the impact of public law values and principles, including constitutional human rights, on private law is evident today not only in mixed jurisdictions, but in many common law and civil law jurisdictions as well. He refers to an “intense process of constitutionalization worldwide. In this sense, what some mixed jurisdictions, like Puerto Rico, started to experience during the early twentieth century has become the norm in many legal systems. The Article refers to the structural and normative features of both common law and civil law systems, as well as other global phenomena, that allow for this development. Finally, the author makes the point that fundamental political values shared by both common law and civil law countries may be more determinative of legal outcomes than the formal legal traditions to which they belong. He asks a basic question: should notions of substantive justice have more weight in deciding legal issues than considerations relating to the formal aspects of common law and civil law systems?
About the Author
Efrén Rivera Ramos. Dean and Professor of Law, University of Puerto Rico School of Law.
Citation
78 Tul. L. Rev. 353 (2003)