Legal Tradition or Legal Marasmus? The ‘Curule Aediles of Lübeck’ or Animal Defects According to the Historical Inflantic Laws (Before 1938/1940)

Andrzej Dzikowski

Abstract

The study concerns on the analysis and interpretation of the legal norms formerly applied in the territories of present-day Latvia and Estonia, in relation to civilian liability for physical defects of animals. The following trends were revealed: the hybridity of law, containing, i.a. Roman and Germanic elements; connectivity of municipal, noblemen’s and peasants’ law; basing the discussed provisions on the Lübeck and Roman law; persistence in organic continuity with local legal tradition; lack of willingness to change and rationalize the law in relation to changes in the surrounding world, new codifications and discoveries of the veterinary medicine.