The Macanese Condominium Reform Under Exam: For a Comparative Approach to the Juristic “Localization”

Abstract

This article makes a comment in a comparative perspective of the condominium law reform in the Macanese legal system (Lei da Administração dos Condomínios). The discussion begins with the examination of the regulatory strategy adopted by the drafter and with the illustration of the phenomenon of so called de-codification. The author then examines the reform following two main coordinates of sense: on one hand, the relationship, not always well balanced, between individual interest and collective interest in condominium dynamics; on the other hand, attention has been focused on the main problematic fields faced by the reform (condominium governance; legal personality of condo; compliance with financial obligations). This article concludes with considerations about the use of comparative law as a concrete methodological instrument at service of legal reform: it was employed in the essay both to “test” the efficacy and efficiency of new proposed rules at the light of other “prestigious” and experienced regulatory strategies about condominium matters, both to furnish to the drafter a sort of “digesto” of potential alternative solutions, considered more appropriate in coping with certain shared problems.

Key words: Condominium law; Strata title; Propriedade horizontal; Macanese legal system; Comparative law; Comparative methods