Markesinis Basil. Engaging with Foreign Law

Hart Publishing, 2009. — 475 p. — ISBN: 978-1-84113-947-0.This book is about foreign law, ie the law of a country other than that of the observer (here frequently referred to as the ‘national’ lawyer), and how to engage with it. There are many reasons why one may wish to find out more about foreign law. It may be that this is the ‘proper’ (ie applicable) law for the dispute in question. Alternatively, it may be needed if one is interpreting an international convention (or other legal instrument) which calls for a more or less similar interpretation and application. Local law may also be underdeveloped, unclear or (arguably) deficient, and recourse to foreign law may help strengthen the conviction that change is needed—and even suggest what form it should take. Finally, recourse may also be sought out of intellectual curiosity; an attribute which is found not only among academics but also among the most learned of judges and the most enlightened of legislators. Whatever the reason—we regard the advantages of exchanges of ideas so axiomatically important and desirable that we do not find it necessary to pursue this point further. Only the most narrow-minded will be contemptuous of such exercises, or arrogant enough to believe that in these days when people, capital, goods and (alas) even drugs and terrorism travel so easily, cultural differences will impede the exchange of legal ideas.