Keywords
Puerto Rico, Civil Code, Code Revision, Codification, Private Law, Civil Law, Commercial Law
Abstract
Puerto Rico is with Louisiana one of the two United States jurisdictions having kept the civil law tradition as the bedrock of its private law. One of the last Spanish colonies, Puerto Rico became a US Territory in 1899. The Spanish Civil Code was replaced by a Puerto Rican Civil Code in 1930. A revision process spanned over a period of 23 years, ending with the adoption of a new Civil Code in 2020. After a presentation of the revision process, this report presents and discusses the changes and innovations in family law, property, contractual obligations, torts, and successions, also discussing the transitory provisions. It focuses on changes. The report also shows that in order not to weaken the US inspired commercial legislation, Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico resisted a contemporary trend of merging the Commercial Code into the Civil Code.
Repository Citation
Luis Muñiz-Argüelles,
The 2020 Revision of the Puerto Rican Civil Code: A Brief Explanation of Major Changes,
15 J. Civ. L. Stud.
(2023)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/jcls/vol15/iss1/6