Spanish Civil Code

Criticism

Like other European civil codes, the Spanish Civil Code has been subject to extensive criticism for allowing acquisitive prescription against personal property—which leaves victims of Nazi plunder with little recourse. The California State Legislature was so upset with an appellate ruling in one such case in 2024—involving deference to Spanish law over California law—that it enacted an urgency statute which expressly overrides California's governmental interest test for resolving a conflict of laws in the specific context of "art or personal property taken in cases of political persecution" and instead prescribes that California substantive law will always control in all such cases. The statute was written in such a way in order to apply this new rule not only to all new cases going forward, but also to all cases still pending on appeal, including the case which had led to its enactment.