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58 Cornell Int'l L.J. 1 (2025-2026)

handle is hein.journals/cintl58 and id is 1 raw text is: The Nature of Leasing Yun-chien Chang & Thomas Merrilit A longstanding dispute in comparative law concerns convergence and di- vergence among different legal systems. The proponents of convergence note that legal systems confront functionally similar problems, which require them to adopt similar solutions. The advocates of divergence counter that legal sys- tems rest on distinct principles, which have an enduring influence that resists assimilation to a common form. This Article offers empirical evidence that sheds light on these rival positions. Leases are a very common form of holding assets in all legal systems and present functionally similar issues. However, as between common law and civil law legal systems, leases rest on fundamentally different legal principles. Leases at common law are regarded as a form of prop- erty, whereas leases in the civil law tradition are universally conceived as being a type of contract. Examining lease law in common law jurisdictions (primarily all U.S. jurisdictions, England, Canada, and Australia) and 86 civil law juris- dictions, this Article finds that on certain dimensions lease law has converged toward a hybrid form, with common law leases becoming increasingly con- tractual and civil law leases becoming reified and sharing attributes associ- ated with property law. On other dimensions, however, starting points continue to matter, enough so that one cannot say that legal systems around the world have converged toward a unified conception of a lease. The evolution of lease laws is consistent with the complex systems theory of private law ? Chang is Jack G. Clarke Professor in East Asian Law & Director of Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture, Cornell Law School; Core Faculty, Cornell East Asia Program. Affiliated Research Fellow, Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica. Email: ycchang@cornell.edu. Merrill is Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law, Columbia Law School. Email: tmerri@law.columbia.edu. For helpful comments, we thank Bram Akkermans, Maria Anaya-Torres, Mindy Chen-Wishart, Dawn Chutkow, Kevin Clermont, Debbie Dinner, Afroditi Giovanopoulou, Valerie Hans, Megumi Hara, Michael Heise, Bob Hillman, Sung-Mao Huang, Madhav Khosla, Jedidiah Kroncke, Alexi Lahav, Chien-Liang Lee, Yael Lifshitz, Kelvin Low, Poorna Mysoor, Jeff Rachlinski, David Reiss, Carol Rose, Henry Smith, Alving See, Emily Sherwin, Bing Shui, Fleur Stolker, Po-Jung Su, Nicole Summers, Zhongxing Tan, Carrie Ting, Kristen Underhill, Peng-Hsiang Wang, Tzung-Mou Wu, Eyal Zamir, Yiran Zhang, Yiang Zhu, and partici- pants at the Cornell Law School's Summer Faculty Workshop; CPLC Private Law Seminar at Cambridge University; 4th Asia-Pacific Private Law Conference held at Seoul National University in July 2024; Faculty Workshop at Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica in 2024 July; and a workshop at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Law School in December 2024. Chang thanks research assistance by Madeleine Bel (Cornell LL.M. '24), Hana Chang, Kuan-ting Chen (Cornell LL.M. '25; J.S.D. '28), Ming-hsi Chu, Yongho Chun (Cornell J.D. '26), Peng-Che Huang, Jennifer Lin (Cornell LL.M. '24), Frank Yang, Danielle Zhang (Cornell LL.M. '25), Scarlett Zhong (Cornell J.D. '25), and Yiang Zhu (Cornell LL.M. '24; J.S.D. '27). Merrill thanks Shannon Frampton (J.D. Columbia '26). 1