Using Legal Culture

In comparative legal studies, the concept of legal culture has come to play an increasingly significant role in contemporary theorising, empirical analysis and methodological innovation. Using Legal Culture explores a number of the key issues regarding the use of this concept.

The essays contained in this book were originally presented in the Journal of Comparative Law Workshop held in Venice University (Ca' Foscari) May 20-21, 2010. The papers show that legal culture is a very productive concept, and also one which carries different meanings and resonances in different places and different languages and which sometimes means different things to different scholars. This collection therefore offers an especially helpful set of reflections on the nature and analytical value of this concept.

The studies published here broadly speaking fall into three categories: general reflections on the concept of legal culture, the use of the concept in the micro-dimensions of the engagement of law with everyday life, and legal culture as a more holistic idea employed to characterise aspects of professionally administered schemes of law and practice. The chapters are written by prominent international scholars, and given a general introduction by one the foremost researchers in the study of legal culture: Professor David Nelken. The book provides an important resource for all students and scholars with an interest in comparative legal studies, as well as for anyone interested in the relationship between law and culture.