Rethinking Comparative Law

Simone Glanert, PhD, Reader in Law, Kent Law School, University of Kent, UK, Alexandra Mercescu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Western University of Timișoara, Romania and Geoffrey Samuel, Professor Emeritus, Kent Law School, University of Kent, UK

• Contents: Introduction 1. The epistemological challenge: does law exist? 2. The comparatist and the illusion of autonomy 3. Methodology and comparative law: programme orientations 4. Method as deception 5. Comparisons otherwise: the merits of interdisciplinarity 6. Comparing comparisons 7. On the untranslatability of laws 8. The corrida, for example: how comparative understanding fares 9. How far culture? A critical examination of cultural defences 10. Comparison in action: on the beach 11. Quantifying law? ‘Legal origins’ or ‘doing business’ as usual 12. Is there generic law? The issue of constitutionalism Index

'A fascinating and refreshing book on legal comparison! With much insight and depth, the three authors join forces, each one in four chapters, to offer new perspectives on how to engage seriously with the study of foreign law. Challenging the orthodoxy, the book offers fruitful reflections on the role of language and culture in law, and discusses questions of method, or the lack thereof, interdisciplinarity and other core questions of legal comparison, including that of the existence of law. The book will not only satisfy the curiosity of an academic audience, but also provide useful tools to international practitioners.'