The 14 essays that make up this 2003 volume are written by leading international scholars to provide an authoritative survey of the state of comparative legal studies. Representing such varied disciplines as the law, political science, sociology, history and anthropology, the contributors review the intellectual traditions that have evolved within the discipline of comparative legal studies, explore the strengths and failings of the various methodologies that comparatists adopt and, significantly, explore the directions that the subject is likely to take in the future. No previous work had examined so comprehensively the philosophical and methodological foundations of comparative law. This is quite simply a book with which anyone embarking on comparative legal studies will have to engage.