From Common Law to Independence: Supreme Court Decisions on Contract Law in 1975

תקציר

The decisions of the Supreme Court of Israel during the 1975 term on contract law reflect the revolution that has taken place in our civil law in the last few years. Due to comprehensive legislation, Israeli contract law is now in a process of transforming from a common law system, both in substance and technique, into a system of independent and codified law. This innovation in the law is now being felt both directly, whenever the new legislation is applicable, and indirectly, when it is mentioned by way of comparison in situations where the old law still governs. Although all the cases that will be discussed in this paper were decided after the new legislation was enacted, only in a minority of cases was it applied. The continuing force of the old-fashioned law stems from the transitional provisions in the new laws.