Offers a bridge between comparative law and legal theory, centers upon debates about European legal integration, and, more generally, about the methodology of comparative law. What should be compared? Statutory rules, case law, legal history, law's political, sociological and economical environment, the ideological background of the lawyers, legal techniques, legal traditions, legal cultures, etc.? This question is at the core of many current debates and is discussed in many of the papers contained in this volume. The contributors all attempt to locate law in its context, and adopt a more...

Whereas many modern works on comparative law focus on various aspects of legal doctrine, the aim of this book is of a more theoretical kind - to reflect on comparative law as a scholarly discipline, in particular on its epistemology and methodology. Thus, among its contents, the reader will find: a lively discussion of the kind of -knowledge- that is, or could be, derived from comparative law; an analysis of -legal families- which asks whether we need to distinguish different -legal families- according to areas of law; essays which ask what is the appropriate level for research to be...