Legal Transplants and Their Impact on Kosovo's Legal System

Abstract

Alan Watson once argued that a rule which is transplanted is different in its new home. For a poor village housewife 'bread' does not have the same meaning as for the wealthy Parisian businessman. The housewife has much less choice, is close to the source of supply, and bread plays a very different role in the family diet. Similarly, foreign legal rules transplanted to the legal system of Kosovo may have different results than in their legal system of origin. Kosovo is a country with a unique history of state-building. As a new state, Kosovo had to be built from scratch, which entailed a lengthy process of legal changes. Laws that were in force Kosovo before 1999 could not support the new developments in its economic and social order, especially the transition from a state-controlled economy to an open-market economy, thus Kosovo has relied heavily on foreign experience in drafting its legislation. Since 1999 Kosovo has received millions of Euros in legal aid from international organizations for the purpose of legal reform. However, this assistance may prove to be very costly for Kosovo as it implies importing foreign rules to Kosovo legislation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the impact of external factors on the development of Kosovar law. The paper will assess whether the transplanted law comports with the culture and tradition of Kosovo and whether the models are likely to fit with the adopting legal system? Is there a timeframe to determine on whether something foreign really “fits in” the local environment? By exploring the above I want to show the impact of legal transplants on the legal order of Kosovo and whether legal solutions that were effective in foreign countries can be effective in Kosovo too.