This fourth volume in the Comparative Succession Law series provides a historical and comparative study of how and by whom the estates of deceased persons are administered, drawing upon the legal traditions of Europe and beyond. When a person dies, their assets (or their value) will transfer to those entitled to inherit them following the deceased's will or, in the absence of a will, according to the rules of intestate succession. Along the way, the assets have to be identified, located, collected in, and safeguarded. Debts owed by the deceased or arising from the death must likewise be identified and then met (if need be, with the proceeds from a sale of estate assets). The whole process by which this is done, from the time of the death until the time of final distribution of the assets to those entitled to receive them, is the subject of Administration of Estates. The topic has sometimes been neglected even within national legal systems, and systematic comparative analysis, at least in the English language, is almost wholly lacking. The volume thus seeks to fill an important gap in the field of comparative succession law.

Focusing on the legal systems of Europe and on countries which have been influenced by the European experience, the volume examines the law in Austria, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Scotland, and Spain, as well as presenting chapters on Australia and New Zealand, Canada, China, South Africa, South America, and the United States of America. The historical background to the main legal traditions in Europe is represented by chapters on Roman law, the customary law of early-modern Continental Europe, and English law before 1837.