James Gordley, Arthur Taylor von Mehren

This book compares the law of property, contract, tort and unjust enrichment in two common law jurisdictions: the United States and England, and two civil law jurisdictions: France and Germany. Readings explore the fundamental differences of origin, of codification, and of the legal structure and legal profession between both. The core of the book consists of cases, statutes and code provisions which provide a road map of the basic doctrines of private law in these jurisdictions and allow one to consider to what extent their approaches and their solutions differ.

Werner F. Menski

The second edition of this textbook develops a new approach to understanding law as an internally plural, interactive phenomenon in a globalising world. It highlights the inadequacies of current Western theoretical approaches in comparative law, international law, legal theory and jurisprudence, especially for studying Asian and African laws. Menski combines the major schools of legal thought to develop a new pluralist approach to understanding law, based on his detailed yet concise examination of the history and concepts of Hindu law, Muslim law, African laws and Chinese law.