2. Codification and Sources of Latin American Law

The codification of legislation in the countries of Latin America began not long after the gaining of State independence and lasted for some years. Many peculiarities of the situation on the American continent were reflected in it. The experience accumulated in other countries was taken into account.

The 1855 Civil Code of Chile was prepared by the Venezuelan jurist A. Bello. He successfully combined French sources and traditional institutions of Roman law, and in so doing he used certain categories of Spanish law, in particular, the provisions of the "Seven Books" and the ideas of Savigny.

The structure of the Chilean Civil Code was more polished than the French Code Civil, and the language as clear and expressive. The Chilean Civil Code served as the model for those which appeared later, the 1860 Civil Code of Ecuador, 1873 Civil Code of Colombia, and many other Central American States. It also exerted considerable influence on the civil codes of other Latin American countries: Venezuela (1862) and Uruguay (1868).

The creator of the 1869 Civil Code of Argentina, D. Veles Sarsfild, a professor at the University of Cordova, expressly acknowledged that he structured the code on the basis of those two documents. The same happened in Uruguay. Paraguay received the Argentine model, and Colombia and Ecuador, with certain modification, the Chilean Civil Code. After civil law there followed the codification of the other basic branches of law. Trade codes, in particular, were enacted. Sarsfild facilitated the adoption in 1859 of the Trade Code of Argentina. In his work lie relied upon the Code Napoleon. But this was not his only source.

French legal influence in the twentieth century, especially in the sphere of trade law (more than in other branches of private law) declined. The Latin American legislator resorted more often to other sources, especially Italian, German, and Swiss law and, in individual instances, to Anglo-American law, for example, with regard to trust ownership.

The first Civil Code of Brazil was adopted in 1916 on the basis of numerous drafts. Especially to be noted were the drafts of Hekseir de Freitas у Bevilak. His models, besides the French Code Civil, were the Portuguese and Italian civil codes, and likewise the Swiss Civil Code. The structure of the Brazilian Civil Code testifies to significant German influence, especially the "General Part".

It is characteristic that even countries geographically closer to the United States nonetheless adhered to European continental models. As an example one may take Mexico, where the legal system formed after gaining State independence accepted the legal ideas and technique peculiar to the Romano-Germanic legal family. Romanist traditions in Mexico also were manifest in that the first codes and many laws adopted in the nineteenth century were based on the influence of French and Spanish law.

In some countries certain codes adopted in the nineteenth century were replaced by new or materially modernised (as in Mexico after the adoption of the 1917 Constitution), whereas in other countries codification remained in force. There the situation was similar to that in France and the Federal Republic of Germany. The old codes were surrounded by a large block of normative material of not only legislative, but also subordinate origin.

In Latin American law the role of delegated legislation was considerable, that is, actual acts of governmental power, which was connected, first, with the presidential form of rule and, second, with the prolonged periods of rule by military officers, when normal legislative activity came down to nothing.

The role of custom as a source of Latin American law varies from one country to another. In Argentina it is greater, but in Uruguay, on the contrary, lesser. As a whole it is a subsidiary source and, as on the European continent, is used in instances stipulated by a law.

Although the Latin American countries borrowed from the United States the principles of structuring and functioning of the judicial system, it should be noted that, unlike the United States, the judicial practice of the majority of Latin American countries is not regarded as a source of law.