Demand for Litigation in the Absence of Traditions of Rule of Law: An Example of Ottoman and Habsburg Legacies in Romania

57 Pages Posted: 27 Apr 2014 Last revised: 9 Feb 2020

Date Written: February 15, 2014

Abstract

The paper investigates the impact of historical legacies of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires on demand for litigation in contemporary Romania, reflected in the number of appeals in criminal cases. It finds that nowadays a key difference between these two historical zones is that in the Habsburg counties demand for litigation increases if the income goes up; in the Ottoman counties, however, the demand remains constant. Furthermore, the demand for litigation in poor counties is smaller in Habsburg than in Ottoman districts. We provide several explanations to this phenomenon and compare it to the anecdotal evidence of culture of judicial appeals in other countries.

Keywords: Law and Economics, Legal history, historical legacies, Habsburg legacy, Ottoman legacy

Suggested Citation

Mendelski, Martin and Libman, Alexander, Demand for Litigation in the Absence of Traditions of Rule of Law: An Example of Ottoman and Habsburg Legacies in Romania (February 15, 2014). Max Planck Institute for European Legal History Research Paper Series No. 2014-04, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2429309 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2429309

Alexander Libman

Free University of Berlin (FUB) ( email )

Van't-Hoff-Str. 8
Berlin, Berlin 14195
Germany

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