2021

DOI:https://www.doi.org/10.31178/AUBD.2021.13

Abstract: This article aims to present several aspects of the history of Romanian law in Bessarabia from 1812 until the period immediately following the Great Union. The evolution of Romanian law during this period can be described in terms of three key factors:unity, survival, andunification. As early as 1812, Bessarabia had a well-established system of legal norms—a genuine indigenous legal system—so that the annexation of Bessarabia by the Tsarist Empire did not result in the automatic replacement of the applicable rules of conduct; rather, some legal institutions survived even until the Great Union. Moreover, immediately after the annexation of Bessarabia, there was an intention to draft a “Civil Code for Bessarabia,” and the jurist Petru Manega succeeded in developing such a draft based on the model of the Napoleonic Code. The final stage analyzed is that of the legislative unification of Bessarabia—a laborious process that, unfortunately, had only a short-lived effect. Last but not least, the study aims to shed light on the lives and works of two illustrious Romanian jurists, Andrei Rădulescu and Vespasian Erbiceanu.

Keywords:legislative unification, the Great Union, Romanian law in Bessarabia, draft civil code for Bessarabia, Petru Manega, Andrei Rădulescu, Vespasian Erbiceanu.