Includes bibliographical references and index.

Ch. 1. A theory of tradition? The changing presence of the past --
Ch. 2. Between traditions: identity, persuasion and survival --
Ch. 3. A Chthonic legal tradition: to recycle the world --
Ch. 4. A Talmudic legal tradition: the perfect author --
Ch. 5. A civil law tradition: the centrality of the person --
Ch. 6. An Islamic legal tradition: the law of a later revelation --
Ch. 7. A common law tradition: the ethic of adjudication --
Ch. 8. A Hindu legal tradition: the law as king, but what law? --
Ch. 9. An Asian legal tradition: make it new (with Marx?) --
Ch. 10. Reconciling legal traditions: sustainable diversity in law.

The first edition of this prize winning work sought to recast the discipline of comparative law and provided a new and inclusive means of reconciling the diverse laws and peoples of the world, through placing national laws in the broader context of legal traditions. The new edition further develops these themes. Glenn examines seven of the world's most important and complex legal traditions in detail; chtonic (or indigenous) law; talmudic law; civil law; Islamic law; common law; Hindu law and Asian law. Each tradition is examined in terms of its institutions and substantive law, its foundations concepts and methods, its attitudes towards the concept of change, and its teaching on relations with other traditions and peoples. Glenn considers both the common influences which have shaped these traditions and the major and important differences between them. Ultimately he demonstrates that despite their differences, the various traditions are fundamentally commensurable and are the best means of facilitating human diversity in an increasingly interdependent world.