About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

26 Soc. & Legal Stud. 3 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/solestu26 and id is 1 raw text is: Review of the Field Social & Legal Studies 2017, Vol. 26(l) 3-24 Review of Co The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permission: uk.sagepub.comlen-gbljournals-permissions Law DOl: 10.1177/0964663916670718 journals.sagepub.com/home/sls OSAGE Robert Leckey McGill University, Canada Introduction This article reviews the field of comparative law, which includes many varieties, from the vantage of sociolegal studies. Debates among comparatists appear sharp, even com- bative. In an effort to quell doubts and to establish their field's distinctiveness, a number of comparatists essentially urge their fellows to abandon some varieties of comparative law and to unite around particular approaches. Such dogmatism is startling in a field purportedly founded on an interest in pluralism and difference. By contrast, this article's animating view is that ambitions to impose a single approach or to 'win' methodological 'debates' are misguided. Comparative law's eclecticism is unavoidable - perhaps hap- pily so. As Fletcher (1998: 691) observes, however, not all writing about foreign law is 'theoretical or interesting'. This article contends that within comparative law's eclecti- cism, the richest insights and greatest potential for sociolegal scholars arise from the field's kinship with other stripes of critical legal scholarship and with cognate disci- plines. These insights emerge from discussions of method and from varieties that prior- itize understanding law in relation to its surrounding society and understanding law generally. A caveat before proceeding. Comparative journals, handbooks, collections and Festschrifts abound and scholars have repeatedly mapped the field. It would be rash, then, to aim for exhaustiveness. To foreground a glaring incompleteness, this review focuses on literature published in English. The goal is not to translate for the reader data from exotic, faraway lands - or from nearer French-speaking jurisdictions. While space constraints imposed painful exclusions, a handful of authors appear more than once, giving a sense of scholarly conversations. The hope is that this survey, despite its limitations, will prove instructive and perhaps provocative, primarily to sociolegal read- ers and secondarily to comparatists. Corresponding author: Robert Leckey, McGill University, 3644 Peel Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A IW9, Canada. Email: robert.leckey@mcgill.ca

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most