Private Law and the State Comparative Perceptions and Historical Observations By Nils Jansen, Münster/Westfalen, and Ralf Michaels, Durham, N.C. * Table of Contents I. Comparative Perceptions .......................... 347 1. European Perceptions: The State in the Background ............ 347 2. American Perceptions: Instrumentalism without a State .......... 352 3. Misperceptions? Transnational Private Law and State Instrumentalism ... 353 4. State, Domination, and Instrumentalism ................. 356 * This is a preparatory article for a Joint Conference of the American Journal of Com- parative Law and Rabels Zeitschrift “Beyond the State – Rethinking Private Law”, to be held at the Max-Planck-Institute in Hamburg on July 12–14, 2007. For further information, see www.private-law.org. Thanks for valuable comments to Joan Magat, Mathias Reimann, and Reinhard Zimmermann. Literature cited in abbreviated form: Harold J. Berman, Law and Revolution, The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition (1983); Helmut Coing, Europäisches Privatrecht I: Älteres Gemeines Recht (1500–1800) (1985); Martin van Crefeld, The Rise and Decline of the State (1999); Marie T. Fögen, Römische Rechtsgeschichten (2002); Nils Jansen, Die Struk- tur des Haftungsrechts, Geschichte, Theorie und Dogmatik außervertraglicher Ansprüche auf Schadensersatz (2003); Ralf Michaels, The Re-State-Ment of Non-State Law: The State, Choice of Law, and the Challenge from Global Legal Pluralism: Wayne L.Rev. 51 (2005) 1209ff.; Mathias Reimann, The Historical School Against Codification: Savigny, Carter, and the Defeat of the New York Civil Code: Am.J.Comp.L. 37 (1989) 95ff.; Wolf- gang Reinhard, Geschichte der Staatsgewalt, Eine vergleichende Verfassungsgeschichte Eu- ropas von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart 3 (2002); Fritz Schulz, Geschichte der Römi- schen Rechtswissenschaft (1961); Werner Teubner, Kodifikation und Rechtsreform in Eng- land, Ein Beitrag zur Untersuchung des Einflusses von Naturrecht und Utilitarismus auf die Idee einer Kodifikation des englischen Rechts (1974); Gunther A. Weiss, The Enchantment of Codification in the Common-Law World: Yale J. Int.L. 25 (2000) 435ff.; Franz Wieacker, Privatrechtsgeschichte der Neuzeit 2 (1967) (cited Privatrechtsgeschichte); id., Römische Rechtsgeschichte, Erster Abschnitt (1988) (cited Röm. Rechtsgeschichte); Reinhard Zimmermann, The Law of Obligations, Roman Foundations of the Civilian Tradi- tion (paperback ed., 1996) (cited Obligations); id., Codification: History and Present Signi- ficance of an Idea: European Review of Private Law 3 (1995) 95ff. (cited Codification). RabelsZ Bd. 71 (2007) S. 345–397 © 2007 Mohr Siebeck – ISSN 0033-7250