Every four years the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL) organises an International Congress of Comparative Law. In preparation of this congress the IACL has drawn up a list of topics and has asked the national associations of comparative law to invite authors to write a national report on the various topic. The Netherlands Comparative Law Association has compiled all national reports written by the Dutch reporters in this book.

Various legal systems were discussed: Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland and the United States. The leading theme was whether civil law systems can learn from the Anglo-American experience. Particularly the American Law Institute's Restatement (Third) of Property, Servitudes offers an interesting model for unification