Chapter 1 introduces students to the various approaches used to pursue comparative legal studies. It especially presents the orthodox “legal families“ approach to macro-comparative law. The chapter then considers several critiques of that tradition. H. Patrick Glenn challenges the concept of “legal families“ and suggests a “legal traditions” framework to replace it. The chapter then presents the social-contextual approach to comparative law as promoted by Legrand. Finally, the chapter urges students to recognize the ethical implications of comparative law through Frankenberg’s concepts of “distancing” and “differencing.”

Chapter 2 starts by discussing legal transplant theory, setting out the core elements of the theory as conceptualised by Watson and the subsequent critique by Legrand. The chapter then considers the modern developments of legal transplant theory, in particular the theory of legal translation, and incorporates them into its own application of the theory. After justifying the application of legal transplant theory, the chapter concludes by highlighting how legal transplant theory can be applied in both this area of law and the three jurisdictions selected for analysis.