Codification and Legal Sources in the Albanian Legal System: Comparative Approach to Legal Systems

Abstract

The civil law system entered the codification path during the 19th century, enabling the creation of uniformity, such as drafting a civil code and building a new (national) identity. The structure of the code suggests that it provides a comprehensive, internally coherent set of rules for private law. The adopted civil codes secure lawyers a systematic and coherent foundation for the legal system and legal reasoning. Codification allowed laws to be in an easily identified document easily. Traditionally, the civil law system has been subject to several codification and consolidation processes during different periods in time, influenced from political, social or economic reforms. In Albania after the proclamation of the Monarchy, work began on the preparation of various codes, with the crucial one being the Civil Code. The first Albanian Civil Code entered in force on the 1st of April 1929. This process was the first step for the Albanian Legislator to compare the secularity of the European legal framework to that of the Ottoman Empire. In 1991, the end of the communist era in Albania was marked by bringing the transformation of the economy into a market-oriented system and the creation of a legal system that protected the right of private property. The Albanian system as a continental system has developed a system based on systematic approach to laws, a procedure known as dogmatic approach. It has created an internal system of laws based on generally codified norms and principles. The purpose of this paper is to explain the impact of political, social or economic reforms in the codification process and the nature of legal sources in Albania.

Keywords

• codification process; legal system; legal reasoning; sources of law