Comparing Law

Catherine Valcke is Full Professor, Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. She has taught, lectured and published on comparative law, comparative law theory and legal theory worldwide, including in such journals as Nomos, The American Journal of Comparative Law, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Yale Journal of International Law, European Review of Private Law, and Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence. Her work on English and French contract law, in particular, was recently cited as 'illuminating' by the English House of Lords. An elected member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, she has acted as National Reporter for Canada to the Congress of the Academy.

• Prologue: the 'malaise' of comparative law; 1. Law; 2. Legal systems; 3. Engaging with legal systems – epistemology; 4. Delineating legal systems – geography; 5. Comparing legal systems – methodology; Epilogue: the 'academic discipline' of comparative law.

'This insightful analysis of the current state of comparative law is sure to be a landmark – valuable both as a survey of the field and as a highly original contribution to the debates over comparative method.' William Ewald, University of Pennsylvania