Social, Jurisdiction, Comparative Study 

"This law and society reader taps a rich and diverse literature to compare and contrast the legal experience of many different cultures and nations. Drawing on a variety of methodological approaches, the selections allow students to evaluate whether there are general patterns that explain how legal systems work (or fail to work) and how these patterns relate to the structural and cultural facts of society.

Every country, of course, has its own legal system, and no two systems are the same. But in teaching law and society, texts have focused nearly exclusively on American readings to the neglect of comparative and international work. This reader fills an obvious gap. It recognizes that law is increasingly global and cross-national, and shows how law relates to society in different times and places, the world over." - Amazon 

Content:
The internal control of a bureaucratic judiciary : the case of Japan / Masaki Abe -- Mutual bonds : media frames and the Israeli High Court of Justice / Bryna Bogoch and Yifat Holzman-Gazit -- Law, lawyers, and legal practice in Silicon Valley : a preliminary report / Lawrence M. Friedman, Robert W. Gordon, Sophie Pirie, and Edwin Whatley -- Advocating democracy : the role of lawyers in Taiwan's political transformation / Jane Kaufman Winn and Tang-chi Yeh -- Legal education in late twentieth-century Latin America / Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo -- Harsh justice : criminal punishment and the widening divide between America and Europe / James Q. Whitman -- The benevolent paternalism of Japanese criminal justice / Daniel H. Foote -- Plea-bargaining and plea negotiation in England / John Baldwin and Michael McConville -- The tuna court : law and norms in the world's premier fish market / Eric A. Feldman -- The legal cultures of Europe / James L. Gibson and Gregory A. Caldeira -- Between law and culture : Rwanda's gacaca and postcolonial legality / Ariel Meyerstein -- Legal cultures in the (un)rule of law : indigenous rights and juridification in Guatemala / Rachel Sieder -- The transformation of constitutional discourse and the judicialization of politics in Latin America / Javier Couso -- Commercial relations, contract, and litigation in Denmark : a discussion of Macaulay's theories / Britt-Mari Blegvad -- Creating people's justice : street committees and people's courts in a South African City / Sandra Burman and Wilfried Scharf -- All in the family : the influence of social networks on dispute processing (a case study of a developing economy) / Manuel A. Gómez -- Bargaining in the shadow of the community : neighborly dispute resolution in Beijing hutongs / Haini Guo and Bradley Klein -- The inquisitor strikes back : obstacles to the reform of criminal procedure in revolutionary Venezuela / Carmen Alguíndigue and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo -- Judicial reform in Mexico : what next? / Héctor Fix-Fierro -- Business litigation in the transition : a portrait of debt collection in Russia / Kathryn Hendley -- Mother or father : who received custody? : the best interest of the child standard and judges' custody decisions in Taiwan / Hung-En Liu -- The sky is high and the emperor is far away : the enforcement of intellectual property law in China / Ling Li -- Immigration, law, and marginalization in a global economy : notes from Spain / Kitty Calavita -- Law, lawyers, and social capital : rule of law versus relational capitalism / Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth -- Globalization and the decline of legal consciousness : torts, ghosts, and karma in Thailand / David Engel -- From Cold War instrument to supreme European court : the European Court of Human Rights at the crossroad of international and national law and politics / Mikael Rask Madsen -- Erewhon : the coming global legal order / Lawrence M. Friedman. 

Includes bibliographical references and index.