INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: The Discipline of Comparative Law CHAPTER TWO: Comparative Legal Linguistics CHAPTER THREE: Comparative Jurisprudence CHAPTER FOUR: Lawyers CHAPTER FIVE: Judges and Judiciaries CHAPTER SIX: Lay Judges and Juries CHAPTER SEVEN: Legal Reasoning CHAPTER EIGHT: Statutes and their Construction CHAPTER NINE: Judicial Precedents CONCLUSION.

5. Judges and Judiciaries; A. Historical Development; B. Court Structure; C. The Selection, Training, and Tasks of Judges; Summary; 6. Lay Judges and Juries; A. Historical Development; B. Selection and Training; C. Justifications for Lay Judges and Juries; Summary; PART THREE: Legal Rules; 7. Legal Reasoning; A. Law, Rules, Norms, Making Law, and Finding Law; B. Four Steps in Making and Applying the Law; C. The Thinking Processes in Making Law; D. Logic and Legal Reasoning; E. Mischaracterizations of Common Law Reasoning; Summary; 8. Statutes and their Construction.

This book offers an in-depth analysis of the differences between common law and civil law systems from various theoretical perspectives. Written by a global network of experts, it explores the topic against the background of a variety of legal traditions.Common law and civil law are typically presented as antagonistic players on a field claimed by diverse legal systems: the former being based on precedent set by judges in deciding cases before them; the latter being founded on a set of rules intended to govern the decisions of those applying them. Perceived in this manner, common law and civil law differ in terms of the (main) source(s) of law; who is to create them; who is (merely) to draw from them; and whether the law itself is pure each step of the way, or whether the law’s purity may be tarnished when confronted with a set of contingent facts. These differences have deep roots in (legal) history – roots that allow us to trace them back to distinct traditions. Nevertheless, it is questionable whether the divide thus depicted is as great as it may seem: international and supranational legal systems unconcerned by national peculiarities appear to level the playing field. A normative understanding of constitutions seems to grant ever-greater authority to High Court decisions based on thinly worded maxims in countries that adhere to the civil law tradition. The challenges contemporary regulation faces call for ever-more detailed statutes governing the decisions of judges in the common law tradition. These and similar observations demand a structural reassessment of the role of judges, the power of precedent, the limits of legislation and other features often thought to be so different in common and civil law systems. The book addresses this reassessment.

This book offers an in-depth analysis of the differences between common law and civil law systems from various theoretical perspectives. Written by a global network of experts, it explores the topic against the background of a variety of legal traditions. Common law and civil law are typically presented as antagonistic players on a field claimed by diverse legal systems: the former being based on precedent set by judges in deciding cases before them; the latter being founded on a set of rules intended to govern the decisions of those applying them. Perceived in this manner, common law and civil law differ in terms of the (main) source(s) of law; who is to create them; who is (merely) to draw from them; and whether the law itself is pure each step of the way, or whether the law's purity may be tarnished when confronted with a set of contingent facts. These differences have deep roots in (legal) history - roots that allow us to trace them back to distinct traditions. Nevertheless, it is questionable whether the divide thus depicted is as great as it may seem: international and supranational legal systems unconcerned by national peculiarities appear to level the playing field. A normative understanding of constitutions seems to grant ever-greater authority to High Court decisions based on thinly worded maxims in countries that adhere to the civil law tradition. The challenges contemporary regulation faces call for ever-more detailed statutes governing the decisions of judges in the common law tradition. These and similar observations demand a structural reassessment of the role of judges, the power of precedent, the limits of legislation and other features often thought to be so different in common and civil law systems. The book addresses this reassessment.

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: 78%, 17 Punkte, University of Hull, language: English, abstract: In times of globalization and internationalisation comparative legal studies play an ever more important role. Especially against the backdrop of trying to foster understanding of different cultures as well as to enhance the development of domestic legal systems and thereby improve one’s own law , comparative law studies are becoming increasingly significant. Comparative legal studies can be defined as the purposeful analysis of different laws or legal systems through the use of one or more approaches. Comparative law consists of the fields ‘private international law’, ‘the making of law’, ‘the interpretation and application of the law’, ‘the confluence of the law and the development of general common principles’ and ‘the unification of the law’ . The aim of this essay is to explain these five basic fields in which comparative legal studies are employed and to illustrate these subjects by giving examples.

The rule of law constitutes the hallmark of contemporary Western society. However, public perceptions and attitudes to the law can vary in space and time. This book explores legal solutions to selected problem scenarios in their broader historical, economic, political and societal context. The focus is on the legal traditions of civil law and common law.The book is premised on the assumption - indeed, the conviction - that use of the comparative method both facilitates and promotes a deeper understanding of the society in which we live and the rules by which it is shaped. Major 'threads' that run through the book are the relationship between law and morality, the role of the state in regulating human interaction, as well as the relationship between the state and the individual.As a practical matter, the text is divided into 3 Parts. A first Part provides various building blocks for a discussion of 'the law in action' in the second and main Part of the book. A final Part addresses the issue of regional globalisation and its impact on the traditional divide between civil law and common law. An Appendix contains the full text of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.