Comparative Law

535 Pages·2018·3.568 MB·English

by  Mathias Siems

Comparative Law
ComparativeLawoffersathoroughgroundinginthesubjectforstudentsand
scholars of comparative law alike, critically debating both traditional and
modern approaches to the subject and using examples from a range of legal
systemsgivesthereaderatrulyglobalperspective.
Covering essential academic debates and comparative law methodology, its
contextualised approach draws on examples from politics, economics and
developmentstudiestoprovideanoriginalcontributiontotopicsofcompara-
tivelaw.
Newtothisedition:
• fullyrevisedandupdatedtoreflectcontemporaryresearch;
• moreexamplesfrommanyareasoflaw;
• increased discussion of the relevance of regional, international, transna-
tionalandgloballawsforcomparativelaw;
• suitable for students taking courses in comparative law and related fields,
thisbookoffersafreshcontextualisedandcosmopolitanperspectiveonthe
subject.
MathiasSiemsisaProfessorofCommercialLawatDurhamUniversity.Heis
also a Research Associate at the Centre for Business Research, University of
Cambridge, a Research Associate at the London Centre for Corporate
Governance and Ethics, Birkbeck, University of London, and an Invited
Fellow at the Maastricht European Law Institute. He has previously held
positions as professor at the University of East Anglia, reader at the
University of Edinburgh, associate professor at the Riga Graduate School of
Law,FulbrightScholaratHarvardLawSchool,andJeanMonnetFellowatthe
EuropeanUniversityInstituteinFlorence.Supportforthefirsteditionofthis
bookwasprovidedbythePhilipLeverhulmePrize2010.
TheLawinContextSeries
Editors:WilliamTwining(UniversityCollegeLondon),
MaksymilianDelMar(QueenMary,UniversityofLondon)and
BronwenMorgan(UniversityofBristol).
Since 1970 the Law in Context series has been at the forefront of the movement to
broaden the study of law. It has been a vehicle for the publication of innovative
scholarlybooksthattreatlawandlegalphenomenacriticallyintheirsocial,political
andeconomiccontextsfromavarietyofperspectives.Theseriesparticularlyaimsto
publishscholarlylegalwritingthatbringsfreshperspectivestobearonnewandexisting
areas of law taught in universities. A contextual approach involves treating legal
subjects broadly, using materials from other social sciences, and from any other
disciplinethathelpstoexplaintheoperationinpracticeofthesubjectunderdiscussion.
Itishopedthatthisorientationisatoncemorestimulatingandmorerealisticthanthe
bareexpositionoflegalrules.Theseriesincludesoriginalbooksthathaveadifferent
emphasisfromtraditionallegaltextbooks,whilemaintainingthesamehighstandards
ofscholarship.Theyarewrittenprimarilyforundergraduateandgraduatestudentsof
lawandofotherdisciplines,butwillalsoappealtoawiderreadership.Inthepast,most
booksintheserieshavefocusedonEnglishlaw,butrecentpublicationsincludebooks
onEuropeanlaw,globalisation,transnationallegalprocessesandcomparativelaw.
BooksintheSeries
Ali:ModernChallengestoIslamicLaw
Anderson,Schum&Twining:AnalysisofEvidence
Ashworth:SentencingandCriminalJustice
Barton&Douglas:LawandParenthood
Beecher-Monas: Evaluating Scientific Evidence: An Interdisciplinary Framework for
IntellectualDueProcess
Bell:FrenchLegalCultures
Bercusson:EuropeanLabourLaw
Birkinshaw:EuropeanPublicLaw
Birkinshaw:FreedomofInformation:TheLaw,thePracticeandtheIdeal
Brownsword&Goodwin:LawandtheTechnologiesoftheTwenty-FirstCentury
Cane:Atiyah’sAccidents,CompensationandtheLaw
Clarke&Kohler:PropertyLaw:CommentaryandMaterials
Collins:TheLawofContract
Collins,Ewing&McColgan:LabourLaw
Cowan:HousingLawandPolicy
Cranston:LegalFoundationsoftheWelfareState
Darian-Smith:LawsandSocietiesinGlobalContexts:ContemporaryApproaches
Dauvergne:MakingPeopleIllegal:WhatGlobalisationMeansforImmigrationandLaw
Davies:PerspectivesonLabourLaw
Dembour:WhoBelievesinHumanRights?:TheEuropeanConventioninQuestion
deSousaSantos:TowardaNewLegalCommonSense
Diduck:Law’sFamilies
Fortin:Children’sRightsandtheDevelopingLaw
Ghai&Woodham:PractisingSelf-government:A ComparativeStudyofAutonomous
Regions
Glover-Thomas:ReconstructingMentalHealthLawandPolicy
Gobert&Punch:RethinkingCorporateCrime
Goldman:GlobalisationandtheWesternLegalTradition:RecurringPatternsofLawand
Authority
Haack:EvidenceMatters:Science,Proof,andTruthintheLaw
Harlow&Rawlings:LawandAdministration
Harris:AnIntroductiontoLaw
Harris,Campbell&Halson:RemediesinContractandTort
Harvey:SeekingAsylumintheUK:ProblemsandProspects
Hervey&McHale:EuropeanUnionHealthLaw
Hervey&McHale:HealthLawandtheEuropeanUnion
HolderandLee:EnvironmentalProtection,LawandPolicy
JacksonandSummers:TheInternationalisationofCriminalEvidence
Kostakopoulou:TheFutureGovernanceofCitizenship
Lewis:ChoiceandtheLegalOrder:RisingabovePolitics
Likosky:TransnationalLegalProcesses
Likosky:Law,InfrastructureandHumanRights
Maughan&Webb:LawyeringSkillsandtheLegalProcess
McGlynn:FamiliesandtheEuropeanUnion:Law,PoliticsandPluralism
Moffat:TrustsLaw:TextandMaterials
Monti:ECCompetitionLaw
Morgan:ContractLawMinimalism
Morgan&Yeung:AnIntroductiontoLawandRegulation:TextandMaterials
Nicola and Davies: EU Law Stories: Contextual and Critical Histories of European
Jurisprudence
Norrie:Crime,ReasonandHistory
O’Dair:LegalEthics
Oliver:CommonValuesandthePublic–PrivateDivide
Oliver&Drewry:TheLawandParliament
Picciotto:InternationalBusinessTaxation
Probert:TheChangingLegalRegulationofCohabitation,1600-2010
Reed:InternetLaw:TextandMaterials
Richardson:Law,ProcessandCustody
Roberts&Palmer:DisputeProcesses:ADRandthePrimaryFormsofDecision-Making
Rowbottom:DemocracyDistorted:Wealth,InfluenceandDemocraticPolitics
Sauter:PublicServicesinEULaw
Scott&Black:Cranston’sConsumersandtheLaw
Seneviratne:Ombudsmen:PublicServicesandAdministrativeJustice
Seppänen:IdeologicalConflictandtheRuleofLawinContemporaryChina
Stapleton:ProductLiability
Stewart:Gender,LawandJusticeinaGlobalMarket
Tamanaha:LawasaMeanstoanEnd:ThreattotheRuleofLaw
TurpinandTomkins:BritishGovernmentandtheConstitution:TextandMaterials
Twining:GlobalisationandLegalTheory
Twining:RethinkingEvidence
Twining:GeneralJurisprudence:UnderstandingLawfromaGlobalPerspective
Twining: Human Rights, Southern Voices: Francis Deng, Abdullahi An-Na’im, Yash
GhaiandUpendraBaxi
Twining&Miers:HowtoDoThingswithRules
Ward:ACriticalIntroductiontoEuropeanLaw
Ward:Law,Text,Terror
Ward:ShakespeareandLegalImagination
WellsandQuick:Lacey,WellsandQuick:ReconstructingCriminalLaw
Zander:CasesandMaterialsontheEnglishLegalSystem
Zander:TheLaw-MakingProcess
InternationalJournalofLawinContext:AGlobalForumforInterdisciplinary
LegalStudies
TheInternationalJournalofLawinContextisthecompanionjournaltotheLawin
Contextbookseriesandprovidesaforumforinterdisciplinarylegalstudiesandoffers
intellectual spacefor ground-breakingcritical research. Itpublishes contextual work
about law and its relationship with other disciplines including but not limited to
science,literature,humanities,philosophy,sociology,psychology,ethics,historyand
geography.Moreinformationaboutthejournalandhowtosubmitanarticlecanbe
foundathttp://journals.cambridge.org/ijc
Comparative Law
SecondEdition
MATHIAS SIEMS
DurhamUniversity
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ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107182417
DOI:10.1017/9781316856505
©MathiasSiems2018
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2014
Secondeditonpublished2018
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Siems,MathiasM.,1974–author.
Title:Comparativelaw/MathiasSiems,UniversityofDurham.
Description:Secondedition.|Cambridge,UnitedKingdom:CambridgeUniversityPress,
[2018]|Series:Thelawincontextseries|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2017043869|ISBN9781107182417(hardback)|ISBN9781316633557
(paperback)
Subjects:LCSH:Comparativelaw.
Classification:LCCK583.S5872018|DDC340/.2–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017043869
ISBN978-1-107-18241-7Hardback
ISBN978-1-316-63355-7Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyInternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
ListofFigures pagexv
ListofTables xvi
PrefacetotheSecondEdition xvii
PrefacetotheFirstEdition xix
ListofAbbreviations xxi
1 Introduction 1
A WhyCompareLaws? 1
1 HowtoSlideintoComparative-LawThinking 1
2 PurposesofComparativeLaw 2
(a) KnowledgeandUnderstanding 2
(b) PracticalUseatDomesticLevel 4
(c) PracticalUseatInternationalLevel 5
B WhatBelongstoComparativeLaw? 6
1 StatusQuo:NoFixedCanon 6
2 SubstantiveScopeofThisBook 7
3 ThreeDimensionsof‘ComparativeLawinContext’ 10
4 Conclusion:StructureofThisBook 11
Part I Traditional Comparative Law 13
2 TheComparativeLegalMethod 15
A TypicalStructureofaComparativePaper 15
1 PreliminaryConsiderations 15
(a) PossibleResearchQuestions 15
(b) CountriestobeExamined 17
2 DescriptionofLaws 19
(a) FindingtheRightPerspective 19
(b) ToTranslateorNottoTranslate? 20
(c) PositiveLawandBeyond 22
viii Contents
3 ComparativeAnalysis 23
(a) IdentifyingVariation 23
(b) ExplainingVariation 24
4 CriticalPolicyEvaluation 27
(a) ShouldThisbePartofComparativeAnalysis? 27
(b) PossibleRecommendations 28
5 AnExamplefromComparativeTortLaw 29
B FunctionalismandUniversalisminParticular 31
1 Functionalism:Origins,UseandConsequences 31
(a) AttractivenessofFunctionalismElsewhere 31
(b) PopularityofFunctionalisminComparativeLaw 32
(c) LimitationsSetbyFunctionalism 33
2 ComparativeLaw’sInterestinFindingCommonalities 35
(a) ParallelsinPhilosophyandOtherFields 35
(b) UniversalismandComparativeLaw 36
3 ExampleoftheCommonCoreProject 38
C CriticalAnalysis 39
1 SimplisticApproach 40
2 FocusonWesternCountries 42
3 CriticsofFunctionalism 45
4 PolicyEvaluation 47
D Conclusion 48
3 CommonLawandCivilLaw 50
A TerminologyandOrigins 50
B JuxtaposingCivilandCommonLaw 52
1 LegalMethodsandSourcesofLaw 53
(a) RoleofStatuteLawanditsInterpretation 53
(b) RoleofCourts 55
(c) RoleofLegalScholarship 56
2 CourtsandCivilProcedure 58
(a) WhichTypesofCourtsExist? 58
(b) WhoExactlyis‘theCourt’? 59
(c) WhatistheMainFormofCivilProceedings? 61
(d) WhataretheRolesofJudge,PartiesandLawyers
inCivilTrials? 62
(e) HowareJudgmentsWritten? 64
(f) WhatEffectsDoJudgmentsHave? 66
(g) Conclusion 68
3 ComparativeContractLaw 68
(a) Introduction 68
(b) ContractFormation 69
ix Contents
(c) GoodFaithandPrecontractualDuties 70
(d) ContractualRemedies 72
(e) Conclusion 73
C CriticalAnalysis 74
1 DiversityinContinentalEurope 74
2 DifferencesBetweenEnglandandtheUnitedStates 75
3 WesternLawInsteadofCivilversusCommonLaw? 78
D Conclusion 81
4 MappingtheWorld’sLegalSystems 84
A SettingtheScene 84
1 BackgroundofClassifications 84
2 PurposesforLegalClassification 85
B ClassifyingCountries 87
1 BasesforClassification 87
2 ReviewofMainClassifications 88
3 MainCommonalitiesandDifferences 92
C CriticalAnalysis 94
1 Over-emphasisofDifferences 94
2 Over-emphasisofSimilarities 96
(a) AsianandAfricanLegalSystems 97
(b) LatinAmerica 99
3 DisregardofHybrids 101
(a) MixedLegalSystems 101
(b) HorizontallyDividedLegalSystems 104
(c) VerticallyDividedLegalSystems 106
(d) ParallelLegalSystems 108
D Conclusion 109
Part II Extending the Methods of Comparative Law 113
5 PostmodernComparativeLaw 115
A ChallengingtheOrthodoxy 115
B Deep-levelAnalysisofLaw 117
1 LawasRequiringImmersion 117
2 LawasLegalPluralism 119
3 GeneralLegalScholarshipasComparativeLaw 121
C Deep-levelComparisons 123
1 JurisprudentialandStructuralApproaches 123
(a) JurisprudentialApproaches 123