Prague Journal

Friday, October 22, 2004

My new friend Radek, who teaches computer science and information systems at VŠE, invited me to a two-day workshop for lawyers and law students given by the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Billed as “A Comparison of American and Czech Legal Practices,” this is the 12th consecutive year JMLS has sent lawyers, judges and teachers, most of whom have Czech family or ancestry connections, to give a workshop here. Most of the morning was spent talking about “Opening and Managing a Law Office in the United States” and the various legal forms of business. For me, the most interesting sessions were those that highlighted some of the differences between US and Czech (and European) property law. Of course there are expected differences in property and tax laws, but I hadn’t really thought about the fact that the US is the only country that has a jury system. Property deed recording is also an interesting contrast, since in most European countries, the government not only records the sale of property, but verifies its legitimacy. Although each state has its own property laws, with the exception of Boston, Minnesota, and Hawaii, the US has a notice and recording system instead of a registry system, which means that the state takes no responsibility for determining the legitimacy of ownership. This is why all lenders require title insurance. I also learned that a hectare is 2.47 acres, an acre is 43,000 square feet, and a square (for land survey purposes) is 2.5 hectares. (We all know, of course, that the U.S. Homestead Act in 1862 gave 64 hectares of land to anyone who built a cabin and lived there for five years.) Thomas Jefferson (who was, among other things, a surveyor) wanted a metric system, but his proposal didn’t pass because chains, rods, acres, and miles were commonly used by farmers.
The workshop location was just a block away from the Tesco on Narodni Třida, so Rick met me after the conference for a quick shopping run. I had strolled upstairs before he arrived and noticed that the sports coats we had looked at last month were now on sale. Two jackets fit him perfectly, so we ended up violating our principle of not buying clothing that we might want to bring back to the U.S. These jackets were not expensive – less than $80 regular price and on sale for $56 – but they had three (yes, three) security tags (those big, heavy plastic gizmos that need to be removed with a special tool) on them. Even underwear typically has heavy security tags.
We had a lovely Shabbat at the Spanish Synagogue with the Bejt Praha group. Evan is in China and Peter is in Slovakia, but Rabbi Narrowe was there to lead a formal service. We met several people there this evening who, like us, are academics on sabbatical, most of whom are spending only part of their leave in Prague. It’s a small world, with unexpected Jewish connections wherever we go.

posted by JWinn @ 7:18 PM