New book by Fabio J. Guzm?n Ariza

Fabio J. Guzman

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I presented my new book, Repertorio de la jurisprudencia civil, comercial e inmobiliaria de la Rep?blica Dominicana last week at the National Library in Santo Domingo and at the Pontificia Universidad Cat?lica Madre y Maestra in Santiago.

The compendium consists of organized summaries of about 7,000 rulings of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic from 2001 to 2014.
 

Kipling333

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I presented my new book, Repertorio de la jurisprudencia civil, comercial e inmobiliaria de la Rep?blica Dominicana last week at the National Library in Santo Domingo and at the Pontificia Universidad Cat?lica Madre y Maestra in Santiago.

The compendium consists of organized summaries of about 7,000 rulings of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic from 2001 to 2014.

Sounds like a book definitely worthwhile having but is there really jurisprudence in the justice system here as we know it under english common law. ?? I think not
But for information I would like to know how the author managed to assemble the judgements of 7000 rulings and then how he made a decision what cases were decided on jurisprudence or law of precedence. I was unaware that this particular important branch of common law received more than a cursory glance in the universities here. ..certainly I have not met a lawyer in the DR who could speak much about this subject which can take years to study thoroughly .
 

AlterEgo

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Fabio J. Guzman

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Kipling333, the word "jurisprudencia" is Spanish means simply how the courts generally rule on certain matters or the aggregate of such rulings; it does not require that the ruling constitute necessarily a legal precedent.

As you know, there are two main legal systems in the world today: 1) the common law system (called "derecho anglosaj?n" here) derived from English law and currently practiced essentially in the former British colonies, and 2) the civil law system (called "sistema romano-germ?nico" by us) practiced pretty much in the rest of the world.

In the common law system, judges are paramount. A decision from the highest court constitutes law (precedent) that must be obeyed by the lower courts. The body of laws is formed slowly through the centuries by the accumulation of court precedents.

In the civil law system, the legislature is preeminent. Laws are made only by the legislature and a higher court decision is not binding on the lower courts, which can always refer to the law (statute) and interpret differently in another case. Laws are codified in a rational manner by subject matter: civil code, criminal code, code of civil procedure, etc. France after the Revolution is the birthplace of the civil law system. The codes promulgated by Napoleon beginning in 1804 were widely admired for their coherence and simplicity and copied or emulated worldwide. The Dominican Republic adopted the French Codes from its beginnings in 1844.

The two systems have tended to converge with time. In common law countries, the legislature has become more and more important as the source of laws. In civil law countries, despite the legal prohibition of having judge-made law ( except with regards to rulings by the Constitutional Court), courts sometimes do interpret statutes is such a way that it really constitutes new law, as well as create new law directly by ruling on matters not found in statutes.

In addition, lower court judges, although not bound by law to follow precedents, do follow the sense of the rulings of the Supreme Court 99% of the time. Thus the importance for lawyers to have a book like mine summarizing in a couple of sentences how the higher courts have ruled on the different civil, commercial and real estate matters. Each summary refers to the full text of the ruling from which it was taken.

http://www.listindiario.com/la-vida/2015/12/02/398775/libro-recoge-suma-de-la-jurisprudencia
 
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Kipling333

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Yes .. thank you for your response .Yes I agree with everything you say ..and especially the last paragraph . My education and training was in mainly commercial law based on Common law principles and of course the need to maintain an up to date system on judgements in cases was absolutely essential and even 50 years ago when i graduated ,there was a daily service updating ammendments to laws and showing rulings and judgements . I cannot see anything like that here in the DR
I also agree with the progressive merger of statute and common law..but , in my opinion,more the pity that laws in many countries are now being made to erode common law. So, we can now be detained in a prison for a long time if some official thinks we are terrorists or may be contemplating some dangerous act and many more cases are now not heard by juries and the right to remain silent has been watered down .
Precedence, legal jurisprudence in English common law, is very important if we are to have any consistency in judgements so I am sure your book is a great asset to many people in the DR
 

Fabio J. Guzman

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Tbe book is not on sale in Amazon yet. It can be bought at Librer?a Cuesta or at Gaceta Judicial (libreria@gacetajudicial.com.do). The prices is 3500 pesos hardcover and 3000 pesos paperback. It's 1020 pages long.