How and to what degree do federations produce uniform law within their
system? This comparative empirical study addresses these questions
comprehensively for the first time. Originally produced under the
auspices of the International Academy of Comparative Law, this volume
examines legal unification in twenty federations around the world.
Each of the successive chapters presents the forces of unification
through the lens of a particular federal system. A comparative overview
chapter provides a detailed analysis of the overall results with
compelling visual illustrations of legal unification along different
dimensions (e.g. by area of law; by federation; by civil vs common law
system). The overview chapter summarizes and analyzes the means and
methods of legal unification and the degree of legal unification of each
system, and explains the driving forces of legal unity and diversity in
federations more generally.
The volume presents surprising findings that should make scholars
rethink their abandonment of the civil law vs. common law distinction in
comparative law.
This book is a milestone in the study of federalism. It is a rare and
welcome melding of comparative law and comparative politics using both
original data and qualitative analysis. Wide-ranging, probing, and
definitive, this book is an invaluable resource for students of law,
politics, and multi-level governance.*
Gary Marks, Burton Craige Professor, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Chair in
Multilevel Governance, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam