1st Edition

Comparative Law A Critical Introduction

By Alessandro Somma Copyright 2026
280 Pages
by Routledge

280 Pages
by Routledge

280 Pages
by Routledge

This advanced textbook offers an overview and critical treatment of comparative law, incorporating both traditional and modern approaches to the discipline and an up-to-date survey of the key methodological debates. The fundamental concepts of comparative law are examined through the lens of three main questions: what to compare, why compare, and how to compare. The study of the objects of... Read more

Part 1: WHAT TO COMPARE: The law and the legal order 1. Comparative law and critique of legal positivism 2. An external point of view on law Part 2: WHY COMPARE: Taxonomy 3. Comparing to unite and comparing to divide 4. Systems and families of systems 5. The Western Legal Tradition Part 3: WHY COMPARE: Legal change 6. Explaining and promoting legal change 7. The market for reforms Part 4: HOW TO COMPARE: The methods of comparative law 8. Comparative law between science and method 9. Structuralism and functional analysis 10. The dissociation between techniques and values

Biography

Alessandro Somma is a full professor of comparative law at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He is member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and of the Board of the Italian Association of Comparative Law.