Author Biography

Balázs Fekete is Associate Professor at the Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of Social Sciences Institute for Legal Studies, Hungary.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Scope and SubjectI. The History of Comparative Law and a History of Comparative LawII. The Dominance of Descriptive LinearityIII. Comparative Law as a Discipline and the Application of Comparative Methods in LawIV. Ancient or Modern History of Comparative Law ThinkingV. Comparative Law and Comparative Constitutional LawVI. A Mezzo Perspective Approach1. The History of Comparative Law and Kuhn's OeuvreI. Studying Science as a Historical Phenomenon: Some PreliminariesA. On the Necessity of an Elaborated Historical ApproachB. On the Historical Character of Scientific DevelopmentC. Choosing a Proper Starting Point – The Importance of the Definition of ScienceII. Applying Kuhn's Legacy to Understand the History of Comparative Legal StudiesA. The History of Science and Kuhn's Paradigm ShiftB. The Very First Problem: How to Apply Kuhn's Findings to Legal ScholarshipC. Which Kuhn to Apply for This Study?D. The Novelty of Kuhn's Work from the Perspective of Legal ScholarshipE. Refining the Kuhnian Vocabulary: ScienceF. Refining the Kuhnian Vocabulary: Parallel ParadigmsG. Refining the Kuhnian Vocabulary: ParadigmH. Refining the Kuhnian Vocabulary: Paradigm ShiftIII. Lessons from Kuhn in the Historiography of Legal Scholarship2. Historical and Comparative JurisprudenceI. Introduction: The Centuries-long Pre-paradigm Period and the Rise of the First ParadigmII. Prologue: The Modern Precursors and the Pre-Paradigm PeriodA. Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-century Examples of the Use of Comparative MethodsB. Early Nineteenth-century Precursors: End of the Pre-paradigm PeriodC. The Relevance of the Early-Modern Pre-paradigm PeriodIII. General Background: The Rise of Positivism and the Idea of EvolutionIV. Historical and Comparative Jurisprudence – The Emergence of the Paradigm in EnglandA. The Fusion of the Historical and Comparative Methods in Maine's Ancient Law B. The Development of Historical and Comparative JurisprudenceV. From Ethnologische Jurisprudenz to Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft – The Birth of a Paradigm in GermanyA. The Beginning: Ethnological Perspectives in the Legal ScholarshipB. Joseph Kohler's General Philosophy of LawVI. The First Paradigm of Modern Comparative Law: A Summary3. The Paradigm of Droit Comparé I. Fin-de-siècle AtmosphereII. A New Wave of InstitutionalisationIII. The 1900 Paris Congress of Comparative LawIV. The Establishment of the New ParadigmA. Comparative Law as an Autonomous Field of Legal ScholarshipB. Comparative Law and Common Legislative Lawi. The New Methodological Principles of Comparative Law – Lambert's Interpretationii. New Emphases in Lambert's Oeuvre – The Start of Puzzle-solving ResearchV. The Development of the Paradigm – Functionalism, Global Law and ScepticismA. The 'Re-founding' of German Comparative LawB. Developing the Institutional Background and the Attraction of 'Global Law'C. The English Initiatives of the Period – Deviating from Maine's HeritageVI. Characteristics of the Second Paradigm4. The Third Paradigm – Post-World War II Comparative LawI. Introductory Remarks: The New World Order and Comparative Law ScholarshipII. The Taxonomy of the World's Legal OrdersA. The First New Try: The Arminjon–Nolde–Wolff ManualB. The Attraction of Ideology and Ideals – The Typology of René DavidC. The Style of Legal Families – The Taxonomy of Konrad ZweigertD. The Concept of the EncyclopediaE. The Perspectives of a Multi-level ClassificationF. Patterns and Dynamics in Law – The Innovation of Ugo MatteiG. The Classification of Legal Orders in Post-World War II Comparative LawIII. The Renewal of Comparative Law Methodology: The Victory of FunctionalismA. Conceptual DiscussionB. The Earliest Attempts to Apply the Idea of Functionalism in Comparative Lawi. Preliminariesii. Functionalism and Legal PrinciplesC. The Fundamental Principles of Functionalist Methodologyi. Historical Roots of Functionalism: Jhering's Method as an Ideal and as a Programmeii. The Research Programme of Comparative Law FunctionalismD. The 'Case-oriented Factual Approach' – The North-American Approach to FunctionalismE. Criticism of Comparative Law FunctionalismF. Common Core and Ius Commune Casebooks ProjectsIV. The Third Paradigm5. New Trends in Contemporary Comparative Law: Towards a Paradigm Shift?I. A Changing Scholarly LandscapeII. A Cultural Turn in Comparative Law?A. Cultural Claims in Comparative Law: The Example of LegrandB. The Proliferation of the Use of Legal Culture: Trends and Problemsi. Legal Culture as Background of Lawii. Legal Culture as Interactions Around Lawiii. Legal Culture as a Sum of Attitudes Towards LawC. Three Typical Inconsistencies in the Application of Legal Culture in Comparative Lawi. Confusion of Different Understandings in the Same Studyii. Under-theorisation of Legal Cultureiii. Over-theorisation of Legal CultureIII. The Decline of Methodological Exclusivity in Comparative Law ThinkingA. The Functionalist-Culturalist DivideB. The Rise of Methodological Tolerance: The Recognition of a Methodological PluralityIV. Paradigm Shift in Contemporary Comparative Law?Concluding ThoughtsI. On the Validity of this Research, with Special Regard to the Relevance of Kuhn's IdeasII. On the Utility of having a Single Book on the History of Modern European Comparative LawIII. On the Recent Perspectives of Comparative Law

Review

A brilliant book which deserves serious attention from comparatists and scholars employing comparative legal methods … Fekete's meticulous and innovative historical appraisal of comparative law's modern development represents an important step towards the formation of a discipline fully aware of, and confident in, its value and potential. -- Luca Siliquini-Cinelli, University of Dundee * Social & Legal Studies *
[An] excellent discussion of the comparatists [Fekete] regards as key in the history of comparative law. -- Geoffrey Samuel * Cambridge Law Journal *

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This book explores the history of modern European comparative law.

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A brilliant book which deserves serious attention from comparatists and scholars employing comparative legal methods ... Fekete's meticulous and innovative historical appraisal of comparative law's modern development represents an important step towards the formation of a discipline fully aware of, and confident in, its value and potential.

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This book explores the history of modern European comparative law.

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The first book on the modern European history of comparative law providing a new and critical reading

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