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A Comparative Theory of Dispute Institutions in Society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2024
Extract
Why study the legal systems of other times or places? Are there reasons beyond an antiquarianism or exoticism that seeks stimulation for a palate jaded by preoccupation with the minutiae of American law? The increased understanding to be gained by such intellectual exploration seems to me similar in origin to the pleasure any of us takes in travel. Differences of physical environment, modes of social intercourse, or patterns of culture awaken us to phenomena which at home are so familiar as to be almost invisible. When we resume our mundane round, the residue of such impressions compels us to recognize the contingency of our own ways, and leads us to look for explanations.
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- Copyright © 1973 Law and Society Association.
Footnotes
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The gestation of this essay has been excessive; during the course of it I have been assisted by the following institutions, whose support I gratefully wish to acknowledge: Yale Law School, the Agency for International Development, and the International Legal Center. So many people read and commented upon earlier drafts that I cannot list them all; I am especially indebted for the insights and criticism of William Felstiner, Marc Galanter, John Griffiths, Benjamin Heineman, Jr., Duncan Kennedy, John Modell, David Trubek, Stanton Wheeler, and Roberto Unger.
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