This paper uses a new quantitative methodology ("numerical comparative law", "leximetrics") in order to answer the questions whether there has been convergence, divergence or persistence of legal rules, and how this relates to the Common Law/Civil Law distinction. It is based on indices for...

In this paper we build a new and meaningful shareholder protection index for five countries and code the development of the law for over three decades. At-tributing and comparing legal differences by numbers is contrary to the tradi-tional way of doing comparative law and the use of a...

This article analyzes how shareholder protection has developed in 20 countries from 1995 to 2005. In contrast to traditional legal research, it draws on a quanti-tative methodology to law ("leximetrics", "numerical comparative law"). Some of its results are that in most countries shareholder...

Inspired by Alan Weisman’s book “The World Without Us” (2007) I analyse the thought experiment of a world in which law professors suddenly vanished. First, without academic teachers legal training would shift back to the legal professions. Purely professional law schools would provide...

In the last two years three important comparative law handbooks have been published (Comparative Law: A Handbook, ed. by Ouml;ruuml;cuuml; and Nelken 2007; The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, ed. by Reinot;mann and Zimmermann 2006; Elgar Encyclopaedia of Comparative Law, ed. by Smits 2006). The...

This paper uses a new quantitative methodology (quot;numerical comparative lawquot;, quot;leximetricsquot;) in order to answer the questions of whether there has been convergence, divergence or persistence of for shareholder, creditor, and worker protection, and how this development relates to...

This article analyzes how shareholder protection has developed in 20 countries from 1995 to 2005. In contrast to traditional legal research, it draws on a quantitative methodology to law ('leximetrics', 'numerical comparative law'). Some of its results are that in most countries shareholder...

This paper discusses new directions in comparative law. It shows that the field of comparative law has become more diverse, both in its methods and by turning its attention to new topics. These changes have occurred, first, as traditional comparative law has increasingly allowed modifications to...

Legal scholars, economists and other social scientist often refer to the idea that countries can be classified into a number of ‘legal families' or ‘legal origins'. Yet, this research is unsatisfactory as regards the actual classifications of the legal systems of the world. It is the aim of...

It is one of the common objectives of comparative law to make suggestions on how the law can be improved. In reality, however, comparative lawyers are often uncertain of what to conclude from their findings. For example, having examined a number of legal systems in detail, shall the comparatist...