Do you wonder why your legal studies focus on England & Wales, but not on Scotland? Are you curious about the meaning(s) behind the expression ‘common law countries’ and/or ‘civil law countries’? Do you want to understand better how the English legal system compares with other legal systems, such as those in the US, India, France, South Africa, Malaysia, Brazil, or in the Middle-East?
Decide how you would answer these questions by studying the field of comparative law.
This module will introduce you to the main concepts and debates surrounding the analysis of different legal systems, It will also give you an overview of the methodology(y)ies that comparative law research involves. As importantly, you will discover how methodologies and concepts can be traced back to the colonial roots of comparative law and how academics specialists in the field have tried over the last twenty years to reinvent the discipline and move away from a specific vision of law and comparative law.