Introduction: What Is Comparative Law?

Abstract

This introductory chapter provides an overview of comparative law. Comparative law involves research into foreign legal systems. It cannot be limited to a simple analysis of the legal situation as revealed by legal texts. Rather, the comparative lawyer must also take into account the realities of law in action in a country. Comparative law then requires an evaluation of the legal results found for each country under scrutiny. Once the comparative lawyer determines which differences and similarities exist in the solutions found by different legal systems, the comparative lawyer can approach the central question of comparative law: the classification and evaluation of these results. The chapter then differentiates comparative law from foreign law studies.