Costantini, Cristina --- "The Iconicity of Space: Comparative Law and the Geopolitics of Jurisdictions" [2012] ELECD 587; in Monateri, Giuseppe Pier (ed), "Methods of Comparative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Methods of Comparative Law

Editor(s): Monateri, Giuseppe Pier

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802529

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: The Iconicity of Space: Comparative Law and the Geopolitics of Jurisdictions

Author(s): Costantini, Cristina

Number of pages: 11

Extract:

11. The iconicity of space: comparative law and the
geopolitics of jurisdictions
Cristina Costantini



1. COMPARATIVE LAW AND BEYOND: ONTOLOGICAL ISSUES
AND STRATEGICAL DEVICES
Comparative law is not at its intellectual end.1 This provocative statement is intended to be
a conscious and radical answer to the latest claims and views growing in the current
scholarly debate. It is also a strong reaction against the apparent marginalization of
comparative law and the deliberate alienation of comparative scholars.2 What is missing?

1
I am referring to M.M. Siems' recent assumption; Siems, Mathias M., `The End of Compara-
tive Law'. Journal of Comparative Law 2 (2007): 133­150.
2
These supposed maladies which affect comparative law and comparatists are overemphasized
by Mitchel de S.-O.-L'E. Lasser: `To read contemporary comparative legal literature is ... to witness
a pitiful series of testimonials about the alienation of the comparatist. The discipline of comparative
law, it seems, is marginalized in any a number of ways'; Lasser, Mitchel de S.-O.-L'E. `The
Question of Understanding'. Comparative Legal Studies: Traditions and Transitions. Eds.
P. Legrand and R. Munday. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003: 197­239. We can also
encounter vivid descriptions of the state of comparative law based on an intriguing use of metaphors
and allegories. See Husa, Jaakko, `The Tip of the Iceberg or What Lies Beneath the Surface of
Comparative Law'. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 16 (2005): 73­94. The
last paragraph of this review of the ...