Comparing Legal Cultures (socio-legal Studies)

This volume cross-examines mainstream approaches to studying legal culture (e.g. those of Friedman and Blankenburg). It includes debates over the concept of legal culture and a variety of case studies of different legal cultures. Cover Half Title Dedication Title Copyright Contents List of Contributors Comparing Legal Cultures: An Introduction PART I INVOKING LEGAL CULTURE: DEBATES AND DISSENTS 1 The Concept of Legal Culture 2 The Concept of Legal Culture: A Reply 3 Civil Litigation Rates as Indicators for Legal Cultures 4 Puzzling Out Legal Culture: A Comment on Blankenburg 5 Comparative Criminal Law for Criminologists: Comparing for What Purpose? 6 Sociological Uses of the Concept of Legal Culture 7 Comparing Legal Cultures in the Quest for Law's Identity 8 Gender and Nature in Comparative Legal Cultures PART II DISCLOSING LEGAL CULTURE: THE PRODUCTION OF DIFFERENCE 9 An Entrepreneurial Conception of the Law? The American Model through Italian Eyes 10 Prosecution in Two Civil Law Countries: France and Italy 11 The Enigma of Japan as a Testing Ground for Cross-Cultural Criminological Studies 12 Patients' Rights, Citizens' Movements and Japanese Legal Culture 13 Remembering and Forgetting: The Birth of Modern Copyright Law Index This work compares and contrasts legal institutions and processes in different societies and cultures. It examines a range of issues, including litigation rates, crime rates, juvenile justice and attitudes towards legal institutions.