ABSTRACT
This Article challenges the conventional narrative that sharply distinguishes civil-law and common-law property systems – characterizing the former by absolute dominion and the latter by relativity of title. Drawing on a uniquely hand-coded dataset covering property law in 214 jurisdictions worldwide, the Article demonstrates that this dichotomy is both overly simplistic and, in many cases, inaccurate. A substantial majority of civil-law jurisdictions in fact recognize forms of relative title akin to those in common law. In addition, by applying a Hohfeldian analytical framework to the concept of possession, this Article shows that possession in most legal systems is not merely a fact but constitutes a semi-property relation between the possessor and others – thereby blurring the supposed divide between civil and common law.
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Yun-chien Chang, Theory of Relativity of Title, American Journal of Comparative Law. Published: 18 September 2026.
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