This thought-provoking introduction to the study of comparative law provides in-depth analyses of all major comparative methodologies and theories and serves as a common sense guide to the study of foreign legal systems. It is written in a lively and accessible style and will prove indispensable reading to students of the subject. It also contains much that will be of interest to comparative law scholars, offering novel insights into commonplace methodological and theoretical questions and making a significant contribution to the field.

The most up-to-date and contextualised offering for comparative law students and scholars, referencing the newest research in the field.

Original sources illustrate and compare the principal doctrines of private law in the United States, England, France, Germany and China.

Comparative Law: An Introduction explores the position and nature of comparative law in a world in which contacts among different countries and cultures are increasing at an ever more rapid pace. Curran discusses the various goals of comparative legal analysis, including the problems of language and translation--problems that operate on a multitude of levels, endangering, limiting, and defining mutual understanding. The book explores the meaning of comparing; comparison's fundamental role in cognition; and its potentials for use in legal analysis beyond the field of comparative law. It spans topics such as comparative law's ability to challenge and debunk entrenched assumptions; the role of history and culture in forming the legal establishment's optic; and issues of validity and verifiability concerning the findings of comparative legal analysis. Comparative Law: An Introduction is designed to open the reader's mind to the complexities of comparative law, to present helpful ideas for engaging in comparative legal analysis, and to suggest the great adventures of the mind that await and reward comparatists. This book is part of the Comparative Law Series, edited by Michael L. Corrado, Arch T. Allen Distinguished Professor of Law, UNC School of Law. "Teachers of comparative law should take a look at this book." -- Bimonthly Review of Law Books, September/October 2002

Providing a comprehensive and comparative analysis of the legal approach to key areas of law within different legal systems, this book offers a blueprint for comparative legal study by evaluating the current epistemological debate on comparative law and comparative legal research methods. Substantive law, the law of obligations, commercial and corporate law within the major legal systems of the world are all examined and compared. While France and Germany are generally used as the archetypal civil law jurisdictions and English law as the main common law comparator, this third edition also examines the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet era and socialist legal influences as well as non-Western legal traditions. Fully updated and revised to include all recent developments, this edition also includes a broad historical introduction and outlines changes in EC Law. It assesses the possibility of Europeanization of national legal systems and certain legal topics, the impact of the globalization of legal institutions and the evolving 'new world order' in the early twenty-first century. Written in a clear, user-friendly style, Comparative Law in a Changing World is an accessible source for undergraduates and postgraduates wishing to trace the influence of common law and civil law legal traditions on jurisdictions across the world.