concerns a lease and so-called privity of estate exists, the new lessee is bound by the terms of the lease concluded by his predecessor. This exception to the privity of contract doctrine could also be explained not to be an exception at all by arguing that the privity of estate doctrine implies that a lease, in essence, is a right against the world. In property law, a further general distinction in regard to the passing of legal burdens can be found. Negative burdens(duties not to do something) pass more easily than positive burdens( duties to act). In both civil and common law, two leading maxims are applied nemo plus juris ad alium transferre potest quam ipse habet and qui prior est tempore potior est jure. Civil as well as common law attaches great importance to the principle of publicity, both in regard to movables and in regard to immovables. Absolute rights or rights against the world should be transparent to protect third parties. It is also significant that in the two legal families 'false wealth(i. e. the appearance of wealth which in reality does not exist)should be avoided In part this is done by demanding public notice of the creation of limited real rights especially security interests such as mortgages. Civil and common law share the principle of specificity: rights against the whole world can only exist in regard to specific objects. Here too the common law has a major exception: the floating charge. This is a charge on all of a debtor's property-immovable, movable and claims. It should not be forgotten, however, that in the civil law the use of sophisticated legal drafting techniques can create results which may come, from a functional viewpoint, very close to a floating charge. (18)As a final point I would like to mention that systems of transfer can be classified in a general manner irrespective of the legal family concerned. A general classification is possible based upon the distinction between, on the one han traditional systems and consensual systems and, on the other hand, causal and abstract systems The above may make clear that even in the area of property law civil and common law share more principles and underlying policies than meets the eye at first glance. This is particularly true in the area of security interests, especially personal property security interests. The conclusion, therefore, must be that here too convergence can be found. A good example that convergence goes further than shared principles and policies can be found in the Cape Town Convention on interests in mobile equipment. This Convention provides an overall universal security interest for mobile equipment of great value such as planes and railway rolling stock (19)It should therefore come as no surprise that the European Parliament in its latest resolution on European private law also asked for unification efforts in the area of personal property law(20)and that the european Commission recently published a call for tenders to do research in this area. (21) IV Concluding remarks Convergence is a very broad theme indeed The approach I took was intended to make clear that convergence has reached an advanced stage in tort law, but can also be found in property law an area where comparative lawyers traditionally have felt that the differences were too great to be Convergence has become the starting point for teaching comparative law(especially private law) in Europe. This does not mean that only converging tendencies should be(and in fact are)concerns a lease and so-called 'privity of estate' exists, the new lessee is bound by the terms of the lease concluded by his predecessor. This exception to the privity of contract doctrine could also be explained not to be an exception at all by arguing that the privity of estate doctrine implies that a lease, in essence, is a right against the world. In property law, a further general distinction in regard to the passing of legal burdens can be found. Negative burdens (duties not to do something) pass more easily than positive burdens (duties to act). In both civil and common law, two leading maxims are applied: nemo plus juris ad alium transferre potest quam ipse habet and qui prior est tempore potior est jure. Civil as well as common law attaches great importance to the principle of publicity, both in regard to movables and in regard to immovables. Absolute rights or rights against the world should be transparent to protect third parties. It is also significant that in the two legal families 'false wealth' (i.e. the appearance of wealth, which in reality does not exist) should be avoided. In part this is done by demanding public notice of the creation of limited real rights, especially security interests such as mortgages. Civil and common law share the principle of specificity: rights against the whole world can only exist in regard to specific objects. Here too the common law has a major exception: the floating charge. This is a charge on all of a debtor's property - immovable, movable and claims. It should not be forgotten, however, that in the civil law the use of sophisticated legal drafting techniques can create results which may come, from a functional viewpoint, very close to a floating charge.(18) As a final point I would like to mention that systems of transfer can be classified in a general manner irrespective of the legal family concerned. A general classification is possible based upon the distinction between, on the one hand, traditional systems and consensual systems and, on the other hand, causal and abstract systems. The above may make clear that even in the area of property law civil and common law share more principles and underlying policies than meets the eye at first glance. This is particularly true in the area of security interests, especially personal property security interests. The conclusion, therefore, must be that here too convergence can be found. A good example that convergence goes further than shared principles and policies can be found in the Cape Town Convention on interests in mobile equipment. This Convention provides an overall universal security interest for mobile equipment of great value such as planes and railway rolling stock.(19) It should therefore come as no surprise that the European Parliament in its latest resolution on European private law also asked for unification efforts in the area of personal property law(20) and that the European Commission recently published a call for tenders to do research in this area.(21) IV Concluding remarks Convergence is a very broad theme indeed. The approach I took was intended to make clear that convergence has reached an advanced stage in tort law, but can also be found in property law, an area where comparative lawyers traditionally have felt that the differences were too great to be bridged. Convergence has become the starting point for teaching comparative law (especially private law) in Europe. This does not mean that only converging tendencies should be (and in fact are)