The Best Comparative Law Books 2024

1. Max Weber on Law in Economy and Society (Twentieth Century Legal Philosophy, Vol. 6), Used [Hardcover]

Ever since it was made known to English-speaking readers by R. H. Tawney and Tolcott Parsons, the thought of Max Weber has attracted increasing attention among students of sociology, history, economics, jurisprudence, political science, and political philosophy. His far-flung ideas were systematically brought together in his last book, Economy and Society , the major part of which was not published until after his death in 1921. Of this most comprehensive and significant of all of Weber's writings, only the Introductory Part has so far been available in English. The present book contains an English translation of those parts of Economy and Society in which Weber investigates the relationship between the social phenomenon "law" and the other spheres of social life, especially the economic and the political. The translation, by Edward A. Shils and Max Rheinstein, is accompanied by an extensive introduction and explanatory and bibliographical notes by Max Rheinstein. The Introduction will acquaint the reader with the problems of sociology of law in general and with Weber's approach and methods in particular. The notes are meant to help the reader understand Weber's wide-ranging references to institutions of Western and Oriental systems of law of both past and present; they also contain references to the sources used by Weber and to later literature which will help the reader evaluate Weber's statements and conclusions. Max Weber's main problem was to discover the causes of the rise of modern capitalism. In his discussions of the law he is primarily concerned with finding what features of Western law, if any, were favorable to the development of the capitalistic economy and in what ways this economy has reacted upon methods of legal thought. Is logical rationality, peculiar to certain parts of the Western world, connected with that rational method of economic thought which is characteristic of Western capitalism? His concern with methods of legal thought renders Weber's ideas specially significant for present American and English jurisprudence. Among the other problems he discusses are those of freedom of contract, its origins, its rise and its place among the institutions of capitalist and non-capitalist societies; the development of rational processes of law making; the connections between kinds of legal thought and the types of social functionaries by whom law is shaped in a given society; the social factors favoring or counteracting codification; and the economic and political significance of ideas of natural law.

Max Weber on Law in Economy and Society, Used [Hardcover]

2. Comparative Legal Traditions in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series) [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. An introduction to comparative law written from the American lawyer's viewpoint rather than that of the European civil law lawyer. This expert discussion concentrates on the three major legal traditions of the West: civil, common, and socialist. Subjects covered include legal structures in civil law nations; legal actors in civil law tradition; procedure; substantive law; sources of law; judicial process; and rules. Also contains chapters on the European Union and the European human rights system.

Comparative Legal Traditions in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series), Used [Paperback]

3. Engaging with Foreign Law, Used [Paperback]

This book is about foreign law - the law of a country other than that of the 'national' lawyer and how to engage with it. There are many reasons for engaging with and understanding foreign law. For instance, local law may be underdeveloped, unclear, or deficient, and recourse to foreign law may help strengthen the conviction that change is needed, and even suggest what form it should take. This book shows how to analyze foreign ideas, concepts, and institutions, and then it explains how to 'package' or 're-package' them so as to make the material usable in one's own national context. Engaging with Foreign Law is about legal methodology - more particularly, comparative methodology - as well as substantive foreign law, and it goes a step further than most comparative law works both in terms of content and philosophy. The authors also provide personal impressions and background about the subject and its protagonists, demonstrating to the reader how much comparative law has developed and changed during the last forty years. Engaging with Foreign Law will inform and provoke in equal measure, and will also prove fun to use in the legal classroom setting.

Engaging with Foreign Law, Used [Paperback]