Romanian law of succession between two Civil Codes

The study represents a development of a previous paper given at the symposium "The Evolution of the Law of Succession in Central and Eastern Europe" organized by the "The Research Center for the Development of the European Law and the Reform of the Private Law" at the Vienna University Law School on 15-16 May 2008. Meanwhile, on 24 July 2009 Romania adopted a new Civil Code that has not, however, entered into force. The paper discusses the major aspects of the Romanian law of succession in both Codes (the old and the new one), on the background of comparative references to the principles of the French and Austrian civil laws. The comparison with the principles of the French law is justified by the fact that the 1865 Romanian Civil Code (still in force) was strongly influenced by the Code Napoléon, while the comparison with the Austrian Civil Code is justified by the fact that the Austrian Civil Code was before 1918 in force in many regions of Romania, either directly or by way of an imitation named the "Calimach Code". Along with the analysis of all those aspects of the Romanian law of succession, the author discusses whether the new Civil Code, heavily influenced by the Quebec Code, may contribute more than the old Code to the harmonization of the Romanian law of succession with the European Law.