Comparative Law describes the comparison of various laws; it is not a distinct body of law. This is clearer from the term in German (Rechtsvergleichung) than from the term in other languages (comparative law, droit comparé). Macrocomparison is concerned with entire legal systems; micro-comparison deals with specific institutions or specific problems. Comparative Law thus goes beyond the mere study of foreign legal systems. However, the difference should not be exaggerated. First, adequate knowledge of foreign law is an indispensable prerequisite of every legal comparison.
Second, even “mere” knowledge of foreign law necessarily contains a comparative element, if only because the comparatist regularly looks at another legal system from (and often for) the perspective of her own particular legal system. Foreign law is thus regularly understood and explained automatically in relationship to one’s own law. The actual comparison of legal systems – the discovery, explanation and evaluation of similarities and differences – is only one of several themes of the contemporary discipline of Comparative Law.
A second theme concerns the influence between legal systems, especially the → reception of law, whether of individual legal institutions or of entire legal systems. With regard to Europe, this encompasses on the one hand the influence on European private law of different legal systems (Roman law, the law of member states, the law of non-European states). On the other hand, it includes the transmission of European law to non- European legal systems.
A third theme of Comparative Law is the development of a general theory of law. Here, comparative law functions as the discipline which attempts to understand the various legal systems in their totality and in their relationship to each other, without necessarily trying to avoid or minimise the existing differences between them. This theme was prominent in the early 20th century and is once again gaining attention today. Different purposes are ascribed to Comparative Law: it should inform national lawmaking, assist judges in the resolution of difficult questions, provide a basis for legal unification or harmonisation, or simply increase knowledge and extend awareness, especially in legal education. All these are purposes that legal science should fulfil in general. From this perspective, Comparative Law is just a special form of general legal science, or, phrased inversely, the comprehensive study of law (and, with limits, legal practice) must contain a comparative component.
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