Comparative Succession Law Volume IV: Administration of Estates

This fourth volume in the Comparative Succession Law series provides a historical and comparative study of how and by whom the estates of deceased persons are administered, drawing upon the legal traditions of Europe and beyond. When a person dies, their assets (or their value) will transfer to those entitled to inherit them following the deceased's will or, in the absence of a will, according to the rules of intestate succession. Along the way, the assets have to be identified, located, collected in, and safeguarded. Debts owed by the deceased or arising from the death must likewise be identified and then met (if need be, with the proceeds from a sale of estate assets). The whole process by which this is done, from the time of the death until the time of final distribution of the assets to those entitled to receive them, is the subject of Administration of Estates. The topic has sometimes been neglected even within national legal systems, and systematic comparative analysis, at least in the English language, is almost wholly lacking. The volume thus seeks to fill an important gap in the field of comparative succession law.

Focusing on the legal systems of Europe and on countries which have been influenced by the European experience, the volume examines the law in Austria, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Scotland, and Spain, as well as presenting chapters on Australia and New Zealand, Canada, China, South Africa, South America, and the United States of America. The historical background to the main legal traditions in Europe is represented by chapters on Roman law, the customary law of early-modern Continental Europe, and English law before 1837.

Kenneth G C Reid taught law at the University of Edinburgh from 1980 until 2019. He was appointed to the Chair of Property Law in 1994 and to the Chair of Scots Law in 2008. From 1995 to 2005 he served as a Scottish Law Commissioner, where he was responsible for a major programme of reform of land law, subsequently implemented by legislation. His many publications focus on property law, the law of succession, trusts law, legal history, and comparative law.


Jan Peter Schmidt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg and head of its Centre for the Application of Foreign Law. He is a part-time lecturer at the University of Hamburg and the Bucerius Law School Hamburg. He has published widely on matters of contract, family, and notably succession (usually from a comparative or a private international law angle).


Reinhard Zimmermann was Director at the Max Planck Institute of Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg from 2002 to 2022. He is an Affiliate Professor at the Bucerius Law School and an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh. He has published widely on the law of obligations and the law of succession in a historical and comparative perspective, on the relationship between the English common law and continental civil law, mixed legal systems (in particular Scotland and South Africa), and the harmonization of European private Law.

Prologue, Kenneth G C Reid, Jan Peter Schmidt, and Reinhard Zimmermann1. Administration of Estates in Roman Law, Sebastian Lohsse2. Administration of Estates in Early-Modern Europe, Thomas Rüfner3. Administration of Estates in France, Cécile Pérès4. Administration of Estates in Italy, Gregor Christandl5. Administration of Estates in the Netherlands, Wilbert D Kolkman6. Administration of Estates in Spain, Sergio Cámara Lapuente7. Administration of Estates in South America, Jan Peter Schmidt8. Administration of Estates in Austria, Christiane Wendehorst9. Administration of Estates in Hungary, Lajos Vékás10. Administration of Estates in Germany, Reinhard Zimmermann11. Administration of Estates in Russia, Elspeth Christie Reid12. Administration of Estates in English Law before the Wills Act 1837, Neil Jones13. Administration of Estates in England and Wales, Roger Kerridge14. Administration of Estates in Scotland, Kenneth G C Reid15. Administration of Estates in Australia and New Zealand, Prue Vines and Nicola Peart16. Administration of Estates in Canada, Alexandra Popovici and Lionel Smith17. Administration of Estates in the United States of America, Ronald J Scalise Jr18. Administration of Estates in South Africa, François du Toit19. Administration of Estates in Norway, Thomas Eeg20. Administration of Estates in the People's Republic of China, Knut Benjamin Pißler21. Administration of Estates in Historical and Comparative Perspective, Reinhard Zimmermann and Jan Peter SchmidtEpilogue, Kenneth G C Reid, Jan Peter Schmidt, and Reinhard Zimmermann