Comparative Legal Studies: Traditions and Transitions Traditions and Transitions

The 14 essays that make up this 2003 volume are written by leading international scholars to provide an authoritative survey of the state of comparative legal studies. Representing such varied disciplines as the law, political science, sociology, history and anthropology, the contributors review the intellectual traditions that have evolved within the discipline of comparative legal studies, explore the strengths and failings of the various methodologies that comparatists adopt and, significantly, explore the directions that the subject is likely to take in the future. No previous work had examined so comprehensively the philosophical and methodological foundations of comparative law. This is quite simply a book with which anyone embarking on comparative legal studies will have to engage.

1. Introduction: accounting for an encounter Roderick Munday; Part I. Comparative Legal Studies and its Legacies: 2. The universalist heritage James Gordley; 3. The colonialist heritage Upendra Baxi; 4. The nationalist heritage H. Patrick Glenn; 5. The functionalist heritage Michele Graziadei; Part II. Comparative Legal Studies and its Boundaries: 6. Comparatists and sociology Roger Cotterrell; 7. Comparatists and languages Bernhard Großfeld; Part III. Comparative Legal Studies and its Theories: 8. The question of understanding Mitchel Lasser; 9. The same and the different Pierre Legrand; 10. The neo-romantic turn James Whitman; 11. The methods and the politics David Kennedy; Part IV. Comparative Legal Studies and its Futures: 12. Comparatists and transferability David Nelken; 13. Comparatists and extraordinary places Esin Örücü; Conclusion; 14. Beyond compare Lawrence Rosen; Index.

Leading international comparatists offer an authoritative review of comparative legal studies. Essays examine comparative law's intellectual traditions, the strengths and failings of its methodologies and its future directions. This 2003 text is quite simply a book with which anyone embarking on comparative legal studies will have to engage.