Subject: foreign law (i.e., the law of other countries) and its relevance to domestic law
    1. may be directly applicable to a specific problem presented by a client
    2. knowledge of it may be helpful in understanding or developing our own
        a. our rule may have its origins in another system -- how does it work there?
        b. our law may be silent or unsatisfactory on a given point -- how have other systems dealt with it?
    3. "comparative law"
        a. is it a specific body of knowledge, or a method of addressing legal issues?
            German: Rechtsvergleichung (comparison of laws)
        b. can one study a foreign country's law, without "comparison"?
    4. key to understanding a foreign law or rule: system
        a. the institutional and cultural environment in which a rule operates
            i. history, culture, distribution
            ii. legal structures or institutions
            iii. legal actors: professionals and their training
            iv. procedures, judicial and administrative
            v. sources of law, and how legal actors deal with them
        b. example: alternatives to "consideration" for enforceable promise
            i. Anglo-american seal -- now too casual a formality to serve
            ii. notarial execution in continental Europe
                can we adopt it? Can our notaries public do the same job as the European notary?

Coursebook: Merryman, Clark & Haley, THE CIVIL LAW TRADITION: Europe, Latin America and East Asia (Michie 1994).
    Key concept: tradition, broader than system
        our emphasis: Europe, especially France and Germany

Format: 3-hour course with examination, or research paper on a topic we can agree on

Literature: a few general works worth more frequent consultation:

    Glendon, Gordon & Osakwe, COMPARATIVE LEGAL TRADITIONS IN A NUTSHELL
        (West, 2d ed. 1994)
    Merryman, THE CIVIL LAW TRADITION (2d ed. 1985, Little, Brown)
        (only 1st ed. 1969 in our library, still useful)
    Zweigert & Kötz, INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE LAW
        (originally in German, translated by Tony Wier, 2d ed. 1992 repr. 1994)
    David & Brierly, MAJOR LEGAL SYSTEMS IN THE WORLD TODAY (2d ed. 1978)
        (there is a third English edition which our library doesn't have)

compare: Clark & Ansay, INTRO. TO THE LAW OF THE UNITED STATES (1992)

Some questions concerning the materials in Assignment #1:

1. What is the concept of a legal "tradition", as distinguished from a legal "system"? What are the principal legal traditions represented today?
 

2. On what grounds might the civil law tradition be considered more important than the common law tradition?
 

3. On what grounds might the civil law tradition be considered more "cultured" than the common law tradition?
    (i) how many countries are part of each tradition?
    (ii) how did they get there?
        (a) colonization?
        (b) voluntary adoption?

4. Why might it have occurred that all of the leading socialist systems were part of the civil law tradition?

5. Comparative law in America:

(i) the leading legal treatises of the early 19th century (Blackstone, Kent, Story) are full of comparative references
(ii) since then very little.