Scottish private law in codal form might well prove similarly attractive for comparative study An example that comes to mind is the law of trusts, which has developed in Scotland despite the absence of the divide between law and equity which is supposed to be the lifeblood of the institution in the system of its origin, England. 54 If there is ever to be a European Civil Code, whether as positive law or in restatement form it will have to be equally accessible to the Common and the Civil Law trad itions; in other words, it will have to be mixed. The Dutch Civil Code of 1992, which is sometimes put forward as a model for a European code, seems to me too abstract, too close to the German BGB, ever to be acceptable to the Common Lawyer or, indeed to the Scots lawyer. The possibility that a more acceptable model could be provided by the only existing ' mixed system in Europe is surely one which deserves to be put to the test 4The Scots law of trusts gives ownership to the trustee and confers a personalright upon the beneficiary with certain privileges. The concept goes back to the early modem period, and English influence has affected its development less than might be expected. These points are expounded in depth by my colleague, G L Gretton in "Scotland: the evolution of the trust in a semi-civilian system, in R H Helmholz and r zimmermann(eds), Itinera Fiduciae: Trust and Treuhand in Historical Perspective(1998). See also D J Hayton, SCJJKortmann andL E Verhagen(eds), Principlesof European Trust Law(1999), at 3-4; also the National Report for Scotland by KGC Reid at ibid, 67-84Scottish private law in codal form might well prove similarly attractive for comparative study. An example that comes to mind is the law of trusts, which has developed in Scotland despite the absence of the divide between law and equity which is supposed to be the lifeblood of the institution in the system of its origin, England.54 If there is ever to be a European Civil Code, whether as positive law or in ‘restatement’ form, it will have to be equally accessible to the Common and the Civil Law traditions; in other words, it will have to be ‘mixed’. The Dutch Civil Code of 1992, which is sometimes put forward as a model for a European code, seems to me too abstract, too close to the German BGB, ever to be acceptable to the Common Lawyer or, indeed, to the Scots lawyer. The possibility that a more acceptable model could be provided by the only existing ‘mixed’ system in Europe is surely one which deserves to be put to the test. 54The Scots law of trusts gives ownership to the trustee and confers a personal right upon the beneficiary with certain privileges. The concept goes back to the early modern period, and English influence has affected its development less than might be expected. These points are expounded in depth by my colleague, G L Gretton, in ‘Scotland: the evolution of the trust in a semi-civilian system’, in R H Helmholz and R Zimmermann (eds), Itinera Fiduciae: Trust and Treuhand in Historical Perspective (1998). See also D J Hayton, S C J J Kortmann and H L E Verhagen (eds), Principles of European Trust Law (1999), at 3-4; also the National Report for Scotland by K G C Reid at ibid, 67-84