The most recent addition to the Studies of the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law series published by Hart Publishing provides an exploration of the relationship between property and contract law from a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on English and Spanish law. The essays are the result of a research workshop held to celebrate the five-hundredth anniversary of the Law Faculty of the University of Seville in 2018. The purpose of the book is to explore a range of comparative issues in, and the relationship between, property law and contract law in English and Spanish law, while giving readers access to discussions and comparisons of these areas of private law that are not easily accessible elsewhere. While the main focus of the book (Ch 2–7) is an exploration of different aspects of the rules for the creation and transfer of moveable and immoveable property by contract in England and Spain, Chapters 8–10 explore different issues: assignment of contract in France and England (Ch 8); testamentary dispositions over property in England (Ch 9), and the forced expropriation of private property in Spain (Ch 10).

These latter chapters move beyond the comparative focus of the earlier chapters to highlight related topics that might interest the reader. Chapter 8, in particular, engages in a fascinating and topical comparative study of assignment, albeit between England and France. While not engaging in an Anglo–Spanish comparison, some effort is made in the introductory chapter to plug the comparative gap in these chapters, while commenting that further reading may be required. Chapter 1 also introduces the reader to the institutions and terminology of the Spanish law of property, providing a helpful aide-mémoire for the chapters that follow.

In general, the book's focus is on contracts for the transfer of real and personal property rights. Chapters 2 and 6 provide an overview of the position in Spanish and English law respectively. Spanish and Latin American law derives from the Roman-Canon Law legal tradition. López y López highlights the key features of modern law, noting a contrast with French law which, in its Civil Code of 1804, adopted a position contrary to the ius commune and permits the transfer of ownership by mere consent of the contracting parties without the need for delivery of possession. This position was rejected by the later Spanish Civil Code of 1889 and by a large number of Latin American jurisdictions (Ch 2: III). The Spanish model requires both a legal ground (titulus) for the transfer of ownership and an effective method (modus) of transfer (art 609.2 CC). Delivery (traditio) is the most common mode of transfer. López y López highlights certain difficult cases eg fiduciary transfers (while noting drily that all these difficulties would be removed if Spanish law adopted the concept of a trust). Cartwright gives a concise masterclass on the creation and transfer of property rights by contract in English law. Given his need to explain the distinction between legal and equitable rights in land, the statutory framework, the operation of the specific performance remedy and the distinction between contracts for the transfer of land and goods, the contrast between the common and civil law frameworks for the transfer of ownership is self-evident.

Chapters 3 and 4 focus on specific aspects of the Spanish system. Chapter 3 examines the Spanish concept of delivery (traditio) by means of escritura pública Footnote ¹ (art 1462.2 CC). In discussing problems that can arise in using this instrument, notably in relation to third-party claims to ownership, this chapter highlights a number of practical difficultiesFootnote ² and how they are resolved, and, more generally, the central significance of traditio in Spanish law. Chapter 4 examines how the Spanish system deals with transfers of land ownership by a non dominus (a party who lacks the power of disposition or non-owner) in the context of the Spanish Land Registry system when faced with a third-party purchaser in good faith. These chapters give a sense of the key academic debates arising in these technical aspects of the law.

Häcker (Ch 5) and Oliva Blázquez (Ch 7) offer comparative perspectives on this theme. Häcker focuses on contracts for the sale of goods, contrasting the German abstract transfer system with the French consensual systemFootnote ³ where the contract itself automatically transfers the property in the goods provided the subject matter of the contract exists and is capable of transfer at the time the contract is formed.Footnote ⁴ In stressing the need for a contextual understanding of the law, beyond the formal rules discussed in earlier chapters, she seeks to place the operation of either a causal or an abstract property transfer system in the context of the national legal order. In comparing France (a pure causal consensual system) with Germany (abstract system where conveyance is separate from contract)Footnote ⁵ and England (muddled and complicated by legal and equitable rules), Häcker seeks to provide a comparative map of property transfer systems. Oliva Blázquez, in contrast, addresses the transfer of ownership of goods in the Draft Common Frame of Reference,Footnote ⁶ which he rightly regards as a particularly thorny issue in comparative law and one, he notes, deliberately excluded from the CISG due to the difficulties of identifying a common rule (155). In offering a brief commentary on the DCFR's attempt to harmonise this area of law, Oliva Blázquez notes its value as an academic exercise offering unprecedented comparative analysis of this area of law.

The editors conclude that while the book contains clear evidence of differences in legal rules and their functional effects, we should not ‘be surprised when, from time to time, we discover similarities in the rules, or at least in their functional effects, and in some of their underlying policies as reflected in those rules’ (17). Such similarities are perhaps inevitable given that, in each system, parties need to be able to transfer land and moveables with relative ease. While it is disappointing that the volume does not contain a formal conclusion, perhaps the reader can draw some of their own.

First of all, we can observe that civil law systems adopt a number of distinct approaches to this topic despite their common Roman law heritage—the contrast between the French consensus-based system and the Spanish title-and-delivery system is emphasised by a number of authors in this volume. The book is good in noting these differences and in seeking explanations for such variation and what it means in practice. Secondly, we can see that each system gives rise to technical debates which continue to engross legal commentators and the courts despite the longevity of the rules involved—this is a complicated and technical area of law where statute and codal provisions set a framework which renders the aspiration for a holistic approach enabling us to understand how and why the rules operate advocated by Häcker all the more difficult. Finally, the book reminds us that comparative private law is not just about contract and tort but does (and should) include property law.Footnote ⁷ In studying how we acquire property, we gain insights into how we structure our property law, our legal history, the relationship between the courts and statute/code in terms of legal development and the extent to which matters such as the perceived need for publicity, protection against insolvency and good faith influence the operation of the law.

While comparative lawyers reading this volume might prefer a more active comparative approach, despite the valiant attempt of the editors to fill this gap in the introduction and the excellent chapters of Häcker and Oliva Blázquez, these essays provide the reader with a number of interesting reflections on the relationship of contract and property law in common and civil law systems including, as the editors highlight, welcome access to Spanish sources with which many non-Spanish speakers will be unfamiliar.