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Parisi, Francesco; Luppi, Barbara --- "Quantitative Methods in Comparative Law" [2012] ELECD 592; 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 16

Section Title: Quantitative Methods in Comparative Law

Author(s): Parisi, Francesco; Luppi, Barbara

Number of pages: 11

Extract:

16. Quantitative methods in comparative law
Francesco Parisi and Barbara Luppi



1. INTRODUCTION: THE EVOLVING METHODOLOGY OF
COMPARATIVE LAW
Various important debates have accompanied the growth and evolution of comparative
law. These debates have been an important force behind the transformation of the
methodology of comparative law during the last several decades.1 Comparative law has
evolved away from a merely descriptive methodology that characterized the main contri-
butions to this field prior to the 1950s. The subsequent methodological variants to
comparative law followed a variety of analytical approaches, unveiling common elements
behind apparently different legal rules as well as revealing substantive differences that
existed across legal systems behind the apparent uniformity of black letter law. Here, the
focus on comparative legal history and the identification of legal formants typical of the
best scholars in comparative law of the second half of the twentieth century has generated
important contributions, identifying synecdoches and articulating cryptotypes.
Unlike prior methodological transformations within the field of comparative law, the
influence of the `comparative law and economics method' has been at the same time broad
and controversial. Comparative law and economics is increasingly fashionable among
academics. It is probably the most successful example of the recent expansion of law and
economics into areas that were once considered beyond the realm of economic analysis.
Its popularity notwithstanding, comparative law and economics also attracts several
criticisms and generates academic skepticism. The critiques are often on point and
highlight the many misuses of economic analysis in comparative law ( ...