Cooperation across borders requires both knowledge of and understanding of different cultures. This is especially true when it comes to the law. This handbook is the first to comprehensively present selected legal cultures based on a very specific set of structural elements which can be found in all such cultures. Legal cultures are a product of and impacted by certain fundamental and commonly shared ideas on and expectations of the law. In all modern societies these ideas are to a certain degree institutionalized or at least embedded in institutionalized practices. These practices determine the way lawyers are educated and apply the law, how they engage with the ongoing internationalization of law and what kind of values they adhere to. Looking at these elements separately enables the reader to identify similarities and differences and to explain them contextually. Understanding these general features of legal cultures can help avoid misunderstandings or misinterpretations of foreign law and its application. Accordingly, this handbook is a necessary starting point for all kinds of legal comparative studies conducted by academics, students, judges and other legal practitioners.

Provides the first systematically organised overview over selected legal cultures

Marius Mikkel Kjølstad and Sören Koch, Introduction.- Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde, Legal Culture - Ideas of and Expectations to Law made Operational by Institutional(-like) Practices.- Tina Soliman Hunter, An Introduction to Australian Legal Culture.- Konrad Lachmayer and Niklas Sonntag, An Introduction to Austrian Legal Culture.- Bruno Debaenst, An Introduction to Belgian Legal Culture.- Lana Bubalo, An Introduction to the Legal Cultures of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia (Western Balkan).- JIANG Dong, An Introduction to Chinese Legal Culture.- Catalina Vallejo Piedrahíta, Tania Luna Blanco and Olga Velásquez Ocampo, An Introduction to Colombian Legal Culture.- Niels Graaf, An Introduction to Dutch Legal Culture.- Christian N.K. Franklin, A Legal Cultural "Take" on the Legal System of England & Wales.- Merike Ristikivi, Andreas Kangur, Irene Kull, Katre Luhamaa, Marin Sedman ¿, Hesi Siimets-Gross and Age Värv, An Introduction to Estonian Legal Culture.- Eyob Awash Gebremariam andMulu Beyene Kidanemariam, An Introduction to Ethiopian Legal Culture.- Johann Ruben Leiss, An Introduction to EU Legal Culture.- Anna Nylund, An Introduction to Finnish Legal Culture.- Sunniva Cristina Bragdø-Ellenes and Iris Nguyên Duy, An Introduction to French Legal Culture.- Sören Koch, An Introduction to German Legal Culture.- Daniel Haitas, An Introduction to Hungarian Legal Culture.- Esmeralda Colombo and Lars Kvestad, An Introduction to Italian Legal Culture.- Monica Naime and Juan Luis Cervantes, An Introduction to Mexican Legal Culture.- Marius Mikkel Kjølstad, Sören Koch and Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde, An Introduction to Norwegian Legal Culture.- Anna Klimaszewska, Anna Machnikowska and Sören Koch, An Introduction to Polish Legal Culture.- Andrew R C Simpson, An Introduction to Scottish Legal Culture.- José María de Dios Marcer and José Cañabate Pérez, An Introduction to Spanish Legal Culture.- Axel Jonsson, An Introduction to Swedish Legal Culture.- Lloyd T. Wilson, Jr., A View of the Legal Culture of the United States of America.- Yuliya Chernykh, An Introduction to Ukrainian Legal Culture.