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Full-Text Articles in Law

Legal Orientalism, Teemu Ruskola Oct 2002

Legal Orientalism, Teemu Ruskola

Michigan Law Review

Fifty years ago comparative law was a field in search of a paradigm. In the inaugural issue of the American Journal of Comparative Law in 1952, Myres McDougal remarked unhappily, "The greatest confusion continues to prevail about what is being compared, about the purposes of comparison, and about appropriate techniques." In short, there seemed to be very little in the field that was not in a state of confusion. Two decades later, referring to McDougal's bleak assessment, John Merryman saw no evidence of progress: "few comparative lawyers would suggest that matters have since improved." And only a few years ago, …


Islamic Law And Ambivalent Scholarship, Khaled Abou El Fadl May 2002

Islamic Law And Ambivalent Scholarship, Khaled Abou El Fadl

Michigan Law Review

This book reminds me of the image of the arrogantly condescending and blustering tourist in Cairo who drifts into a store that has taken the trouble of prominently displaying the price of their commodities in nicely typed tags. Nevertheless, the tourist walks in, reads the price tag, and then proclaims, "Okay, what is the real price?" The poor store employee stares at him with incredulity, and simply repeats the price on the tag, and, in response, the tourist emits this knowing and smug smile as if saying, "I know you guys, you never mean what you say; everything in Arab …


Federalism Or Federationism, William E. Butler May 2002

Federalism Or Federationism, William E. Butler

Michigan Law Review

When I took up my appointment in October 1970 as Reader in Comparative Law in the University of London, I was invited to collaborate in teaching the LL.M.' course in Soviet Law offered within the University on an intercollegiate basis. The course had been introduced two years previously, the first of its kind within the realm. Originally it was offered by a team of three, regrettably all now deceased: Edward Johnson, Ivo Lapenna, and Albert K. R Kiralfy. I had come to England to replace the late Edward Johnson, whose untimely death had left vacant the Readership in Soviet Law, …


A Life In The Craft Of Comparative Law, John C. Reitz May 2002

A Life In The Craft Of Comparative Law, John C. Reitz

Michigan Law Review

It is obvious to specialists in the law of the European Union ("E.U.") - a relatively small but steadily growing group in the United States - that a "retrospective" collection of Eric Stein's writings would be of great interest. From his 1955 article in the Columbia Law Review, the first article about the Court of Justice of the European Coal and Steel Community to appear in English (p. 473), he has been one of the dominant U.S. scholars of what was initially called "European Community" ("E.C.") law after the three original European Communities2 and more recently has been rechristened "European …


Premature Predictions Of Multiculturalism?, Kirsten Matoy Carlson May 2002

Premature Predictions Of Multiculturalism?, Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Michigan Law Review

The late twentieth century ushered in a renewed interest in constitutional democracy as Latin American states revised earlier constitutions and post-Communist countries in Eastern Europe wrote new constitutions to reflect their democratic aspirations. Processes of constitution-making continued throughout the 1990s with new constitutions emerging in states throughout Africa, Latin America, and Europe. The rejuvenation of constitution-making also renewed scholarly interest in comparative constitutionalism. Scholars investigating constitution-making processes in Eastern Europe and Africa soon developed theories on how these processes and the contents of national constitutions changed in the late twentieth century. Donna Lee Van Cott contributes to the new literature …