part v • comparative legal history • kjell å modéer the key terms were convergence, harmonization, universality, and similarities.11 Curran turned to concepts such as Rechtsfamilien(legal families) andRechtskreisen (jurisdictions) to construct systematics of similarities. Convergence became the normal way to regard this German-American cognitive structure. When Ernst Rabel’s Institute for Foreign law and International Private Law celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1966, Rheinstein was in Hamburg to give the speech. ‘The legal systems of the world will remain different’, he stated, ‘but they need a uniform treatment, if not the world once again will decay in different cultures. Up until the world spanning uniformCourt much time pass away. Like before the nineteenth century, legal science once again must undertake the role as the defender of a uniform legal culture. The foundation and flourishing of different supranational organizations mirrors this development.’12 In this essay I apply Curran’s hypothesis to Rheinstein’s career and Scandinavian legal network. Scandinavian scholarly interest in the US and American jurisprudence increased after SecondWorldWar. Since the 1870s, Scandinavian legal scholars had nurtured their contacts with German-speaking colleagues; German was the first foreign language learnt in Scandinavian schools; German jurisprudence dominated Scandinavian scholarly work; and German laws were important models for Scandinavian legislators. After the Second World War the situation changed dramatically. English became the foreign language of choice. Germany had been razed, andwas no longer regarded a model for Scandinavian jurists. Until 1939, Scandinavian law students went south to the universities the other side of the Baltic, especially the German-speaking countries; after 1945 they headed west to the universities in theUKand theUS, in a pa12 Max Rheinstein, ‘Festvortrag: Vierzig Jahre Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht’, offprint of Mitteilungen aus der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft 1 (1967), 6 ff.: ‘Die Rechte derWelt werden in vielem verschieden bleiben…aber sie bedürfen doch einer einheitlichen Behandlung, wenn die Welt nicht wieder in verschiedene Kulturen zerfallen soll. Bis zu einem die Welt überspannenden einheitlichen Gerichtshof wird noch viel Zeit vergehen. Wieder, wie vor dem 19. Jahrhundert, wird die Rechtswissenschaft die Rolle desWahrers der Einheit der Rechtskultur zu übernehmen haben. Die Gründung und das Aufblühen verschiedener übernationalen Organisationen spiegelt diese Entwicklung.’ 258
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=