16 i n t r o d u c t i o n a n d c o n t e x t

view to possible future trends towards the harmonisation or codification of the law concerned with time-limited interests. However, as has been stressed, this is not a stepping stone towards a Civil Code. Rather, it is a tentative first step towards the eventual possibility of harmonisation across Europe.

4. The genesis of the book

4.1. Narrowing down the topic

The present sub-topic was initiated by the editors as a second-generation topic of the Common Core Project on Property. The questionnaire containing the twelve cases was discussed at several meetings in Trento and eventually approved in its present form. Originally it did not include cases 10–13 on land development, but after consideration of case law on this matter (and in particular English case law) it was decided to include these cases to supply a commercial real estate development angle to the project. At the outset it was decided that commercial leases should be avoided because this area of the law is primarily regulated by special statutes. Instead, the project has been designed to concentrate on residential and agricultural leases. In the field of personal servitudes, it was decided (upon the suggestion of the late Professor Peter Birks) that the position with regard to the usufruct of intangibles such as shares in a company would not be included in this project but should be dealt with in a separate project. Unfortunately, this project was subsequently abandoned owing to the emergence of a comprehensive thesis, later published as a book on the subject.2 The main reason for the extraordinary time length of the project is the late introduction of the national reports from Eastern Europe and the difficulty in finding a French and an Austrian reporter in the initial stages of the project.

4.2. Terminology

From the beginning, the terminology to be used in the project presented problems. In the sphere of lease, we had to decide between the term ‘tenant’ and ‘lessee’ and settled for the term ‘tenant’, owing to the fact that a lessee is not considered a tenant before he/she enters into possession of the premises.3 Whereas the distinction between agricultural and residential leases is fairly clear, several mainly civil law

2See Pretto-Sakmann, Boundaries of Personal Property.

3See Guerts, ‘Historical Development of Leases’, p. 357.