The regulation of patrimony within civil law systems: from a unitary to a divisional approach in the management of patrimonial assets and its effects on private international law rules

Private International Law (PIL) does not admit patrimony, usually considered as the totality of the property rights of a person, as an autonomous legal category. Whereas, within civil law systems influenced by Roman Law, at the domestic or internal level, patrimony is a recognised legal concept. But, actually, this unitary vision seems less and less stable owing to the adoption, within said systems, of some types of negotiable instruments that are able to realise different forms of patrimonies. This article intends to underline how civil law systems are gradually affirming a divisional approach about the regulation of patrimony, as traditionally happens at the level of PIL rules. But at the same time, it aims at highlighting how, in particular, by recourse to the use of trusts, it is possible to recover both at the PIL and internal levels a unitary vision.