Comparative Law

Professor Pedro A. Malavet

Class Notes Part Two

(Last Updated: January 22, 2002)

II. Using the Comparative Method in American Law Practice

A. Case Illustrations, 171-182

1. Lésion Corporelle, Eastern Airlines v. Floyd, 171-179

Do you think that Justice Marshall might have wanted to know that

in France stare decisis is not officially recognized and mostly legally forbidden?

lower courts can ignore an appellate reversal within the same case?

it is not until the second time that an appellate court consistently rules on an issue that a decision becomes binding on the lower court within the same litigation?

Article 17, cb-172

"The carrier shall be liable for damage sustained in the event of the death [mort] or wounding [blessure] of a passenger or any other bodily injury [ou . . . toute autre lésion corporelle] suffered by a passenger, if the accident which caused the damage so sustained took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking."

Art. 17: carrier is liable for passenger injury only when three conditions are satisfied:

1) there has been an accident, in which
2) the passenger suffered "mort," "blessure," "ou . . . toute autre lésion corporelle," and
3) the accident took place on board the aircraft or in the course of operations of embarking or disembarking.

Lésion Corporelle

French language predominates
What did
lésion corporelle mean to a French Jurist in 1929?

Sources

Bilingual Dictionary, cb-172-173
Other Translations, cb-173
French Legal Sources
French Legal Sources
(1) Legislation, cb-173
(2) Judicial Decisions, cb-173-174
(3) Scholarly Writing, cb-174

French Civil Code Article 5

Judges are forbidden to pronounce decisions by way of general regulatory provisions on cases that are submitted to them.
See Generally Chapter 9: The Judicial ProcessA. Sources of Law, CB-937

Art. 1 Swiss Civil Code [CB-938]

The law regulates all matters to which the letter or the spirit of any of its provisions apply.

In the absence of an applicable legal provision, the judge pronounces in accordance with customary law and, in the absence of a custom, according to the rules that he would establish if he had to act as legislator.

He is guided by the solutions consecrated by juristic opinion and case law.

French De Facto Jurisprudence

1. Jurisprudence constant, i.e., a series of concordant decisions; [986-987]
2.
arrêt de principe, i.e., a judgment intended to establish principle, either because the matter was unsettled or because it reverses prior decisions;
3. arrêt d'espece, a case limited to its own facts.

French Civil Code Art. 1382

Any act of man, which causes damages to another, obliges the person at fault to repair it.

2. Shubun in Japanese Law, 179-182

Distinguish

Text
Order
Holding
Mandate

Two Claims:

(1) Tort (Deceit) Decided In Japan
(2) Contract

Two Cases

California: Hachitsuka v. Toho/YanemotoSuit for both causes of action.

Japan: Toho/Yanemoto v. Hachitsuka, for declaratory judgment absolving it from tort liability and damages.

Common Fact:

No Promise By Toho."As far as the matters contained in the text [order?] [holding?] [shubun] of a judgment which has become final and conclusive are concerned, they have res judicata."
-Japanese Code of Civil Procedure

Distinguish

Res Judicata: Claim preclusion.
Collateral Estoppell: Issue or Fact Preclusion

 

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