Una aproximación histórica y cultural de algunos conceptos jurídicos

Abstract

This article proposes a comparative and interdisciplinary view at some legal concepts, trying to analyze their historical semantics, using historical tools, in particular the social history model, to discover the changes in the social structure behind these concepts and also to examine their possible links with modern law at the level of conceptual evolution. In other words, conceptual history explores conditions and situations over a long period of time, clarifying the evolution of law in terms of the interconnection between social structures and legal concepts./nWe are going to answer the following questions: How are legal concepts and terms originating from a particular historical situation in European history used in other civilizations? Can legal concepts and terms developed in the Western European social model be generalized? Does the transposition of concepts or terminology hide significant historical differences? How has China taken the initiative to participate in this project of legal transformation?

/nThe law of a country has never existed independently, it is part of its culture, and is deeply influenced by its history and particular way of thinking. We take these basic concepts of contract law as an example and sample. The most important concepts we are going to work with are the following: What is meant by Civil Law? And, in particular, what is understood by obligation and contract in the Chinese and Latin American systems? Is the Chinese legal tradition the same as that of Europe and Latin America? For Chinese law, the historical evolution of the concepts of civil law, obligation and contract was a process of reception of foreign law, which was in any case complicated, because there were always conflicts and debates about it, therefore these concepts of Chinese law, compared with those of foreign law shows the particular characteristics.

Este artículo propone una mirada comparativa e interdisciplinaria, mediante herramientas históricas, en particular el modelo de historia social, a algunos conceptos jurídicos, como el Derecho Civil, la obligación y el contrato. El derecho de un país nunca ha existido independientemente, forma parte de su cultura y está influido profundamente por su historia y el modo de pensar particular. Tomamos estos conceptos básicos del derecho de contratos como ejemplo y muestra. Los conceptos más importantes con los que vamos a trabajar son los siguientes: ¿Qué se entiende por Civil Law? Y, en particular, ¿qué se entiende por obligación y contrato en los sistemas chino y latinoamericano? ¿La tradición jurídica china es igual que la de Europa y de América Latina? Para el Derecho chino, la evolución histórica de los conceptos del Derecho civil, la obligación y el contrato fue un proceso de recepción del Derecho extranjero, lo cual fue en todo caso complicado, pues siempre existían conflictos y debates sobre ello, por lo tanto, estos conceptos del derecho chino, comparados con los del derecho extranjero, muestran características particulares.