Atypical Legal Systems — “Mixed” or “Hybrid”

Abstract

This article analyzes the atypical legal systems, which present features from different types of law. The authors state the classical division into legal families is outdated and many legal systems present amalgamated elements. According to the authors’ opinion, based on the typological approach, some legal systems can simultaneously be part of different legal families, being at the intersection between them. Thus, some elements of the legal system present characteristics of one type of law, and others — of another type of law, their specific mix representing a mixed system. As an outcome, the authors conclude that there is no univocal approach to understanding the concept of “mixed system”, and propose to understand the mixed legal system as “a legal system in which a fundamental branch or a main element presents features characteristic of a different type of law than the dominant one in other elements of the system”.