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.

'A delightful and fresh approach to the comparative study of law.' (Jans Smits, Maastricht University, the Netherlands) (of the first edition). This textbook presents a clear and thought-provoking introduction to the study of comparative law. The book provides students with in-depth analyses of the major global comparative methodologies and theories. Written in a lively style, it leads the student through debates in comparative legal scholarship, both in the Western world and in the lesser studied jurisdictions, beyond Europe and North America. The second edition includes a revised structure to help the student understand the subject, an updated introductory chapter, and new material on legal transplants and globalisation. It also explores allied disciplines, including linguistics, history, and post-colonial studies giving students full context of the subject.

In today's globalized world, jurists cannot limit themselves to studying the laws of their own country. This book is mainly intended to be used as a textbook for beginners taking introductory courses on foreign and comparative law. Its concise format makes it fit for use also in other courses, such as legal history or jurisprudence, having the ambition to provide the students with a basic knowledge about English, American, French, German, Chinese and Islamic law and legal culture, as well as about the methodological problems that arise in connection with studying, comparing and working with foreign legal systems in general. The book will hopefully also be useful as a spring-board towards more profound studies by students and others seeking more advanced knowledge. Michael Bogdan is Professor of Comparative and Private International Law at the University of Lund, Sweden.

This short book on comparative law theory and method is designed primarily for postgraduate research students whose work involves comparison between legal systems. It is, accordingly, a book on research methods, although it will also be of relevance to all students (undergraduate and postgraduate) taking courses in comparative law and to academics entering the field of comparison. The substance of the book has been developed over many years of teaching general theory of comparative law, primarily on the European Academy of Legal Theory programme in Brussels but also on other programmes in French, Belgian and English universities. It is arguable that there has been to date no single introductory work exclusively devoted to comparative law methodology and thus this present book aims to fill this gap.

"The chapters of this volume were presented at the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth Sokol Colloquia on Private International Law, held at the University of Virginia School of Law in September 2014 and September 2015." -- Acknowledgments, p. [xi].