This book presents an original, deliberately controversial and, at times, disturbing appraisal of the state of comparative law at the beginning of the 21st century: its weaknesses, its strengths, and its protagonists (most of whom were personally known to the author) during the preceding thirty-five years. It is also a reminder of the unique opportunities the subject has in our shrinking world. The author brings to bear his experience of thirty-five years as a teacher of the subject to criticise the impact the long association with Roman law has had on the orientation and well being of his subject. With equal force, he also warns against some modern trends linking it with variations of the critical legal studies movement, and urges the study of foreign law in a way that can make it more attractive to practitioners and more usable by judges. At the end of the day, this monograph represents a passionate call for greater intellectual co-operation and offers one way of achieving it. A co-operation between practitioners and academics on the one hand and between Common and (modern) Civilian lawyers on the other, in an attempt to save the subject from the marginalisation it suffered in the 1980s and from which the globalisation movement of the 21st century may be about to deliver it.

AbbreviationsTable of Cases1. Reflections on the State of Comparative Law I: The Twilight of the Heroes1. Of Ghettoes and Smart Neighbourhoods2. Decline2. Reflections on the State of Comparative Law II: The Death of Heroes and the Era of Societal Needs1. The Emergence of a Strategy2. The Rabel Method Over Time3. Functional Specificity: More of the Same Medicine4. Old (Bad) Habits and New (Silly) Threats5. From Heroes to Movements of Contemporary Globalisation3. Spreading the Gospel (and the Name of the Evangelist)1. Aims to be Pursued2. Warnings and Caveats3. Some Raw Data4. Drawing the First Lessons5. The Situation in Germany6. The Case of South Africa7. A Postscript4. Foreign Law Inspiring National Law: Lessons from Greatorex v Greatorex1. The Theory Put into Practice2. The German Model3. The Application of the German Idea to Greatorex4. Unresolved Questions5. The American Dimension6. Some Tentative Conclusions5. The Focused Approach in Public Law1. Introduction2. A Study in Parallel3. The Reasoning of the Courts4. In Search of a Rapprochement5. Wider Conclusions6. Reflecting on the Future: An EpilogueAppendix 1: Correspondence Between Lord Atkin and Professor H C GutteridgeAppendix 2: The German ApproachAppendix 3: Databases SearchedIndex