René David was a French Professor of Law. His work has been published in eight different languages. He was, in the second half of the 20th century, one of the key representatives in the field of comparative law.
David, in Traité élémentaire de droit civile comparé, proposed the classification of legal systems, according to the different ideology inspiring each one, into five groups or families:
Especially with respect to the aggregating by David of the Romano-Germanic and Anglo-Saxon Laws into a single family, David argued that the antithesis between the Anglo-Saxon Laws and Romano-German Laws, is of a technical rather than of an ideological nature. Of a different kind is, for instance, the antithesis between the Italian and the American Law, and of a different kind that between the Soviet, Muslim, Hindu, or Chinese Law. According to David, the Romano-Germanic legal systems included those countries where legal science was formulated according to Roman Law, whereas common law countries are those where law was created from the judges. The characteristics that he believed uniquely differentiate the Western legal family from the other four are:
David was awarded honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh, Brussels, Ottawa, Basel, Leicester and Helsinki. On September 17, 1976, he was honored with Amnesty International, with the Erasmus Prize in the Pieterskerk in Leiden.
Selected bibliography
1929: La protection des minorités dans les sociétés par actions, Librairie du Recueil Sirey, Paris
1947: Cours de législation civile, Les cours de droit, Paris
1948: Introduction à l'étude du droit privé de l'Angleterre, Recueil Sirey, Paris
1950: Traité élémentaire de droit civil comparé: introduction à l'étude des droits étrangers et à la méthode comparative, R. Pichon, R. Durand-Auzias, Paris
1952: French bibliographical digest. Law: books and periodicals, culturele afdeling van de Franse ambassade, New York
1954: Le droit soviétique, met John N Hazard, Librairie générale de droit et de jurisprudence, Paris, 2 volumes
1955: French law, Diocesan press, Madras
1958: The French legal system: an introduction to civil law systems, met Henry P De Vries, Oceana Publications for Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law, Columbia University, New York
1960: Le Droit français, met Philippe Ardant, Librairie générale de droit et de jurisprudence, Paris
1960: Le droit français. Principes et tendances du droit français, Libr. générale de droit et de jurisprudence, Paris
1962: Cours de droit civil comparé, Les Cours de droit, Paris
1964 Les grands systèmes de droit contemporains, Dalloz, Paris,
1964: Bibliographie du droit français, 1945-1960, établie pour le Comité international pour la documentation des sciences sociales sous le patronage de l'Association internationale des sciences juridiques, met International Committee for Social Sciences Documentation, Paris, Mouton
1967: Administrative contracts in the Ethiopian civil code, Ministerie van Justitie, Addis Ababa
1968: Major legal systems in the world today, met John E. C. Brierley, London
1972: French law; its structure, sources, and methodology, State University Press, Baton Rouge,
1973: Les Contrats en droit anglais, met Françoise Grivart de Kerstrat, Libr. de Droit et de Jurisprudence R. Pichon et R. Durand-Auzias, Paris
1974: Structure and the divisions of the law, M. Nijhoff, Den Haag
1975: International encyclopedia of comparative law, met International Association of Legal Science, M. Nijhoff, Den Haag,
1977: Unification du droit et arbitrage, Kluwer, Deventer,
1980: English law and French law: a comparison in substance, Stevens and Sons, London,
1982: Le droit comparé: droits d´hier, droitss de demain, Paris,
1982: Les avatars d´un com-paratiste, Paris,
1987: Le droit du commerce international: réflexions d´un comparatiste sur le droit international privé, Paris,
