The Conflict of Laws: A Comparative Study, Second Edition. Volume One. Introduction: Family Law

This volume, the first in Ernst Rabel\u27s monumental comparative treatise on the conflict of laws, was initially published in 1945. Since then three additional volumes have been added, completing the survey of the systems of conflicts law as originally contemplated. Meanwhile, the first edition of the first two volumes has been exhausted for some time, and the literature of conflicts law has substantially increased, reflecting the new developments that have taken place since 1945. Accordingly, plans for a new edition of the first two volumes were discussed with the author before his death on September 7, I955, and were approved by him; these plans contemplated that the manuscript should be prepared by an assistant of the Institute of Foreign and International Private Law, formerly directed by the author, who should be entrusted with the formidable task of integrating with the original text the relevant conflicts materials which have appeared during the international turmoil of the past decade. This new edition has thus been made possible through the continued support of this research by the University of Michigan Law School and the generous cooperation of the Institute, now the Max-Planck-Institut in Hamburg, in making available the competent services of a member of the staff of the Institute, Dr. Ulrich Drobnig, who utilized the special facilities at the Legal Research Building in Ann Arbor from July 1955, to June I956. In accordance with the advice of the author, whom Dr. Drobnig fortunately was able to consult before undertaking the revision of the two volumes, the collection and inclusion of new material in the author\u27s text has been strictly limited to the addition of new citations and illustrations. Consequently, alterations of the text proper, as distinguished from the footnotes, have been avoided as far as possible. The additional material covers publications up to July 1956, but it has been possible to take account of a few later developments. The revised edition of the second volume is to follow in the near future.https://repository.law.umich.edu/michigan_legal_studies/1010/thumbnail.jp