Nativismandtransnationalism 35 aid us in building a bridge. This appears to be another case of the world of the Civil Law}^ It is also a case of lack of information, but none the less a more substantial shortage, that of some common principles which could only be those of liberty, that of succession in this case. Yet it is not only this, but the social usage, that mattered. Those in Spain who took the principle of liberty, and the freedom of testation as one of its aspects,'^ more seriously, were not so uninformed. They kept looking towards England, but retaining doubts about the precise way in which this facet of liberty was practised there; the same was felt in regard to those domestic law systems, the Derechos forales, and to all their nativisms, the Aragonese as well as the Catalan ones, the Navarre as well as the Basque ones; they were regarded equally, not presided by the individual autonomy, but trapped by social compulsions.Those who looked at some realities and did not build up any hopes, could truly experience the loneliness of liberty. There were no bridges. 7. Finally, conclusion At the end of the nineteenth century and beginnings of the twentieth century, in that changeover of centuries, there was no basis of shared law by means of which communication was possible. The example of the freedom of testation may be eloquent. Let us historians not deceive ourselves about those years either. The fact that liberties were talked about did not mean that they existed. They were the fa(,'ade of a social order and particularly necessary where the Law, the imperative rule, did not offer it, either the British Common Lazc' or the Spanish Dercchos foralcs. So nativism ruled even though transnationalism was proclaimed. E. l.loyd. Succession Laws of Christian Countries, pp. 70-71. W. [Gumersindo de Azcarate], Minuta de un testamento, Madrid 1876; ed. E. Di.tz, Barcelona 1967. G. de Azcirate, Ensayo sobre la historia del derecho de propiedad y su estado actual en Europa, M.adrid 1879-1883, II (1880), pp. 283-284 and 378-379.
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