Book Review: Paradigms in Modern European Comparative Law. A History

Abstract

Apparent certainties are no longer taken for granted, if not heavily criticized. These certainties include the acceptance of the “ functional method ” as the only or at least predominant method for comparative research, the “ country and Western ” approach, which leaves aside non-State legal systems and non-Western legal cultures, the idea that comparative research would consist in simply describing (aspects of) two or more legal systems, a uniquely doctrinal approach with little attention to law ’ s context, and a more or less fi xed taxonomy of “ legal families ” . They have been replaced by a more scholarly approach to comparative law, starting from research questions and hypotheses, using methods, including those from the social sciences, which seem appropriate to fi nd answers to those research questions and to test the hypotheses. This new approach is clearly characterized by pluralism - pluralism as to the kinds of legal systems compared (not just State law) and a methodological pluralism. 1