Includes bibliographical references and index.

Protection against being passed over or disinherited in Roman law / Reinhard Zimmermann -- Passing over and disinheritance in the days of the Ius Commune / Sebastian Lohsse -- Customary mechanisms of family protection : late medieval and early-modern law, Thomas Rèufner -- Compulsory portion in France / Câecile Pâeráes -- Forced heirship in Italy / Alexandra Braun -- Forced heirship in Spain / Sergio Câamara Lapuente -- Forced heirship and family provision in Latin America / Jan Peter Schmidt -- Compulsory portion and other aspects of family protection in Austria / Christiane Wendehorst -- Compulsory portion in Germany / Reinhard Zimmermann -- Compulsory portion and family provision in the Netherlands / Wilbert D. Kolkman -- Compulsory portion in Hungary / Lajos Vâekâas -- Compulsory portion in Poland / Fryderyk Zoll -- Family provision in England and Wales / Roger Kerridge -- Legal rights in Scotland / Kenneth G. C. Reid -- Family provision in New Zealand and Australia / Nicola Peart and Prue Vines -- Family provision in South Africa / Marius J. de Waal -- Freedom of testation and family claims in Canada / Alexandra Popovici and Lionel Smith -- Family protection in the United States of America / Ronald J. Scalise Jr. -- Compulsory portion and minimum inheritance in Norway / Jens M. Scherpe and Thomas Eeg -- Necessary portion in China / Knut Benjamin Pissler and Timo Kleinwegener -- Compulsory heirship and freedom of testation in Islamic law / Nadjma Yassari -- Mandatory family protection in the civilian tradition / Reinhard Zimmermann -- Mandatory family protection in the common law tradition / Kenneth G. C. Reid -- Mandatory Family Protection in Historical and Comparative perspectives / Kenneth G. C. Reid, Marius J. de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann.

This third volume in a series on Comparative Succession Law concerns the entitlement of family members to override the provisions of a deceased person's will to obtain money or assets (or more money or assets) from the person's estate. Some countries, notably those in the civil law tradition (such as France or Germany), confer a pre-ordained share of the deceased's estate or of its value on certain members of the deceased's family, and especially on the deceased's children and spouse. Other countries, notably those in the common law tradition (such as England, Canada, or Australia), leave the matter to the discretion of the court, the amount awarded depending primarily on financial need. Whichever form it takes, mandatory family provision is both a protection against disinheritance and also, therefore, a restriction on testamentary freedom.0The volume focuses on Europe and on countries influenced by the European experience. In addition to detailed treatment of the law in Austria, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Scotland, and Spain, the book also has chapters on Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, Canada, the countries of Latin America, and the People's Republic of China. Some other countries are covered more briefly, and there is a separate chapter on0Islamic law. The book opens with accounts of Roman law and of the law in medieval and early-modern Europe, and it concludes with a comparative assessment of the law as it is today in the countries and legal traditions surveyed in this volume.