Cotterrell, Roger --- "Comparative Sociology of Law" [2012] ELECD 759; in Clark, S. David (ed), "Comparative Law and Society" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Comparative Law and Society

Editor(s): Clark, S. David

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849803618

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Comparative Sociology of Law

Author(s): Cotterrell, Roger

Number of pages: 22

Extract:

2 Comparative sociology of law
Roger Cotterrell*


1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Scope of Comparison

Comparison seems basic to understanding. Deciding what is similar or different as
between two or more things makes it possible to give them identity within a larger
framework; to recognise their particular place in an environment of the familiar and the
unfamiliar. Comparing happens all the time, but often unsystematically--by observing,
recognising and differentiating impressionistically.
Sometimes comparison is a way of seeking similarity. To find that something newly
discovered is, in important respects, the same as what one already knows can be very
reassuring. It affirms knowledge already possessed, suggesting that that knowledge has
a wider application than had previously been realised. Comparison undertaken for this
purpose tends to validate existing understandings. There might even be an incentive to
work towards removing remaining perceived differences and emphasising commonalities.
The tendency may be to see apparent differences as superficial, temporary or based on
misunderstandings that can be removed.1
However, sometimes the aim of comparison is to appreciate difference, to value it spe-
cially, because it can be salutary to realise that things--for example, legal and social ideas
and arrangements--do not have to take the forms that are already familiar to the observer.
In appreciating difference, it becomes possible to see that the world and its experiences can
be ordered and understood in many different ways. Familiar ways are not necessarily con-
firmed as the best. One can learn from others, or just ...