1.5 Methods of Comparative Law

The method's steps (the exam's procedural list): (1) the problem's choice (the function's identification — the social problem to solve); (2) the systems' selection (the comparators' universe — the representative-and-relevant systems); (3) the materials' collection (the sources' gathering — the texts, the cases, the practice: the "law-in-action" beyond the "law-in-books"); (4) the analysis-and-comparison (the functional comparison: the solutions' juxtaposition; the differences' explanation — the context's craft: the culture-and-history's account); (5) the evaluation (the solutions' critical assessment — the "better law" candidate); (6) the conclusion's application (the reform's-or-theory's use — the harvest). The methodological debates: the functionalism's adequacy (the functions' own cultural relativity); the comparability question (the incommensurability critique — Legrand's "the civil law and the common law are different mentalities" thesis); the taxonomies' contest (the legal families' classifications — 1.2's companion: the René-David, Zweigert-and-Kötz, and the common-civil-socialist-religious maps).