Table of Contents

PART I
Abbreviations
Table of Cases
A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
1: The Concept of Comparative Law
2: The Functions and Aims of Comparative Law
3: The Method of Comparative Law
4: The History of Comparative Law
B. THE LEGAL FAMILIES OF THE WORLD
5: The Style of Legal Families
I. THE ROMANISTIC LEGAL FAMILY
6: The History of French Law
7: The Spirit and Essential Features of the Code Civil
8: The Reception of the Code Civil
9: Courts and Lawyers in France and Italy
BII. THE GERMANIC LEGAL FAMILY
10: The History of German Law
11: The German Civil Code
12: The General Civil Code of Austria
13: The Swiss Civil Code
III. THE ANGLO-AMERICAN LEGAL FAMILY
14: The Development of the English Common Law
15: Courts and Lawyers in England
16: The Spread of the Common Law Throughout the World
17: The Law of the United States of America
18: Law-Finding and Procedure in Common Law and Civil Law
IV. THE NORDIC LEGAL FAMILY
19: Scandinavian Law, Past and Present
V. LAW IN THE FAR EAST
20: Chinese Law
21: Japanese Law
VI. RELIGIOUS LEGAL SYSTEMS
22: Islamic Law
23: Hindu Law
PART II
A. CONTRACT
I. THE FORMATION OF CONTRACTS
24: Juristic Act, Contract, and General Conditions of Business
25: Contractual Capacity
26: Offer and Acceptance
27: Illegality and Immorality
28: Indicia of Seriousness
29: The Construction of Contracts
30: Mistake, Deceit, and Duress
31: Representation
32: Assignment
33: Contracts for the Benefit of Third Parties
II. THE PERFORMANCE OF CONTRACTS
34: Claims to Performance and Their Enforcement
35: Breach of Contract
36: The Effect of Supervening Events
B. UNJUSTIFIED ENRICHMENT
37: Unjustified Enrichment in General
38: Unjustified Enrichment Specific Topics
C. TORT
39: Tort in General
40: Liability for others
41: Strict Liability
42: Invasions of the Right of Personality

About the Author

Hein Kötz is Director of the Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law in Hamburg, he is also sometime Goodhart Professor of Law at Cambridge University and occasional professor at many Universities, including Chicago and Tel Aviv.

Konrad Zweigert is the Late Director of the Max-Planck Institute.

Tony Weir is a Fellow of Trinity College and Reader in Law in the University of Cambridge. He has translated a large number of legal texts into English to considerable acclaim.

Reviews

`This is an excellent guide to legal systems of the world, for both students and lawyers ... because of its rich content and its ability to shrink a rather large body of information into a succinct one-volume publication.'
American Society of International Law Newsletter
The third edition of An Introduction to Comparative Law continue to enrich the perspectives of a new generation of readers./Susan Millns/International and Comparative Law Quaterly Vol.48 October 1999.
`This... standard classroom text for courses in Comparative Law in both common law and civil law countries... succinctly collates a vast array of information for presentation in a seminar course... an excellent guide to legal systems of the world, for both students and lawyers concerned with key differences and similarities, both because of its rich content and its ability to shrink a rather large body of information into a succinct one-volume
publication.'
American Society of International Law