I was pleased and honoured to be asked to write a foreword to this collection of essays in honour of John Tiley, an old friend and respected colleague. Both the substance of the contributions in the collection and the status of the authors show the esteem in which the international tax community holds John.

It is appropriate that the title of the collection involves comparative perspectives on revenue law, as John's scholarship and academic activities were centred on comparative interests. He has been a visiting scholar at many foreign institutions, particularly in the US and France, and that experience gave a depth and substance to his comparative writing. In the other direction, he was the point of reference for all comparative work which deals with UK law. He was a welcoming host to many visiting scholars who made Cambridge a necessary stopping point in their scholarly travels. (And further he endeared himself to his international colleagues by writing a very useful essay on the double tax problems faced by travelling academics.)

John brought a unique style and approach to writing about tax law. As Brian Arnold puts it in the culinary metaphor with which he introduces his contribution to this collection, John Tiley is a ‘master chef’ when it comes to tax law scholarship. His offerings are many and varied and always have a special flavour.