1.1 Meaning and Importance of Comparative Law

Comparative law defined: NOT a body of rules but a method — the study (the comparison) of the world's legal systems: the similarities-and-differences' systematic analysis (the laws compared to understand, to improve, to unify). The definition's craft: comparative law = the comparing discipline (the "law of laws" as method, not as law). The importance (the exam's list): (i) the understanding's deepening (the own law's nature revealed by the contrast — the mirror's function); (ii) the reform's service (the legislative borrowing's discipline — the informed transplant, not the blind copy); (iii) the interpretation's aid (the courts' comparative reasoning — the foreign sources' persuasive use); (iv) the unification's foundation (the international harmonisation — the trade-and-human-rights regimes); (v) the legal education's enrichment (the parochialism's cure); (vi) the global practice's preparation (the transnational lawyer's craft).