Developments in Austrian and Israeli Private Law

ThepresentcollectionofessaysisthefruitoftwosymposiumsofAustrian andIsraelischolars,thefirstofwhichwasheldinJerusalemandRamatGanin December1997,thesecondinViennainOctober1998. Thesemeetingstook placewithintheframeworkofapartnershipbetweentheHebrewUniversityof JerusalemandtheUniversityofVienna. Theypermittedastimulating comparativediscussionofinterestingquestionsinmajorfieldsofprivatelaw, suchascontracts,torts,familyandinheritancelaw. The21contributionstothisvolumeaddressimportantlegalissuesfrom differentperspectives. Theyinclude,ontheonehand,historicalresearch reachingbackintoBiblicalandotherAncientNearEastern,aswellas Talmudiclaw,andRomanlawasthefoundationofmodemEuropeanlegal systemsontheotherhand. Theydiscusscontemporaryproblems,mostof whicharenotconfinedtoaparticularnationallegalsystem;andtheyaddress questionsoflawreforminaEuropeanandglobalcontext. Theeditorsofthecollectionwishtothankanumberofinstitutionsand personswhohavemadethispublicationpossible. Financialsupportwasgiven bytheAustrianMinistryofScienceandTransport,bytheAssociationof FriendsoftheUniversityofViennaLawSchool,bytheRamatGanLaw College(whichalsoparticipatedinthesymposiums)andbytheHarryand MichaelSacherInstituteofLegislativeResearchandComparativeLaw,The Hebrew UniversityofJerusalem. Editorial supervision for the Israeli contributionswasprovidedbyProf. AlfredoMordechaiRabelIoandProf. IsraelGilead. OntheAustrianside,ProfessorsHerbertHausmaningerand HelmutKoziolsharedthistask. MichaelB. Dunn,HerbertHausmaninger's researchassistantattheCornellLawSchool,improvedEnglishlanguageand styleoftheAustriancontributions. Dr. RichardGamauf,Mag. VerenaHaas andMagretAItrichteroftheInstituteofRomanLawintheUniversityof Viennaprovidededitorialassistanceandauniformlayoutfortheentirepubli cation. Vienna,JerusalemandRamatGan June1999 Table ofContents ListofContributors IX Contract Law Berachyahu Lifshitz TheOriginsofObligationsAccordingtoJewishLaw . . Franz Bydlinski A"FlexibleSystem"ApproachtoContractLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Franz Bydlinski MistakeinAustrianPrivateLawViewedinTermsofa"Flexible System"Approach 21 Renee Sanilevici Force MajeureandFrustrationofContractinIsraeliLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Attila Fenyves TheInfluenceofChangedCircumstancesonContractsofLong Duration 59 Ricardo Ben-Oliel PaymentsbyBankingTransfersinPracticeandinLegalTheory 81 Daniel Friedman RestitutionofBenefitsGainedbyBreachofContract. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 TortLaw Reuven Yaron WrongfulActsandReducedSanctions:AComparativeSurvey . . 103 Herbert Hausmaninger RomanTortLawintheAustrianCivilCodeof1811 . 113 Herbert Hausmaninger TheThirdPartialAmendment(1916)totheAustrianCivilCodeof 1811anditsInfluenceonTortLaw . 137 Helmut Koziol CharacteristicFeaturesofAustrianTortLaw . . 159 Helmut Koziol ProblemsofAlternativeCausationinTortLaw . 177 Israel Gilead Causation,Riskand"EvidentialLoss" inIsraeliTortLaw . 187 VIII TableofContents Israel Gilead TheLimitsofTortLiabilityinNegligenceandPureEconomicLoss. . . 197 Family and Inheritance Law Gideon Libson LegalStatusoftheJewishWomanintheGaonicPeriod:Muslim Influence-OvertandCovert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Pinhas Shifman TheStatusofWomeninIsraeliFamilyLaw:TheCaseforRefonn. . . . . . 245 Wolfgang Zankl RecentDevelopmentsinAustrianInheritanceLaw:Comparedto IsraeliLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Wolfgang Zankl RightofSuccessionoftheSpouseandtheRelatives-AComparative Analysis 255 Shmuel Shilo RightsofSuccession:SpouseversusRelativesinIsraeliLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Alfredo Mordechai Rabello OnGiftsandtheDayofDeath:Section8(b)oftheIsraeliSuccession Law5725-1965andtheDistinctionbetweenGifts inter vivosandGifts mortis causa 267 Codification Alfredo Mordechai Rabello WorkingTowardstheCodificationofIsraeliPrivateLaw:Between CommonandCivilLaw. . . . . . . . 291 List ofContributors Ricardo Ben-Oliel,Dr. Jur. (Jerusalem),AssociateProfessor,FacultyofLaw, UniversityofHaifa Franz Bydlinski,Dr. jur. (Graz),Dr. jur. h. . ~. (Salzburg;Munich),Professorof Law,UniversityofVienna;Member,OsterreichischeAkademiederWis senschaften;CorrespondingMember,AkademiederWissenschaftenzu GottingenandofthePolishAcademyofSciencesinCracow At/ita Fenyves,Dr. jur. (Graz),ProfessorofLaw,UniversityofVienna Daniel Friedmann,M. Jur. ,LL. M. ,Dr. Jur. ,ProfessorofLaw,TelAviv University;Member,IsraelAcademyofSciencesandHumanities Israel Gilead. LL. B. ,LL. D. ,BoraLaskinAssociateProfessorofTorts,The HebrewUniversityofJerusalem;RamatGanLawCollege Herbert Hausmaninger,Dr. jur. (Graz),ProfessorofLaw,Universityof Vienna;JohnA. EwaldDistinguishedVisitingProfessorofLaw,Univer sityofVirginia Helmut Koziol,Dr. jur. (Gr~z),ProfessorofLaw,UniversityofVienna; CorrespondingMember,OsterreichischeAkademiederWissenschaften; Director,EuropeanCenterofTortandInsuranceLaw Gideon Libson. LL. B,LL. M. ,Dr. Jur. ,FriedaandSolomonB.