Herein Lies the Rub with Comparative Law Research – From an American Perspective

Abstract

The legal community in the United States has good reasons to be interested in the laws of other nations, but there are real barriers to finding and understanding comparative law. This article describes important differences in how law is envisioned in the United States: the pre-eminence of the adopted Constitution as the ultimate statement of rights and government powers, the interpretive role of judges in a unique federalist system, and the importance of case law in learning and talking about the law. This article also describes overarching obstacles that interfere with finding and reading comparative law: the influence of language and culture on formulating and carrying out research enquiries, and the increasingly bewildering array of interferences in accessing law authority and scholarship even when its existence is known.