ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the core of Alan Watson's influential approach to comparative law - his theses about transplantation of law between legal systems. It argues that the law-and-community approach allows a nuanced, realistic analysis of the possibilities of successful legal transplants. The chapter suggests that how success here should be understood. It takes as its departure point some provocative ideas about the relation of sociology of law to comparative legal studies. The chapter criticizes the problematic William Ewald and Alan Watson set up for relations between comparative law and legal sociology. It suggests a new conceptual framework for that interaction. Professional relationships may be dominated by an instrumental rather than traditional type of community as lawyers jostle for new markets for services and ally themselves with particular interest groups. Conflicts over law are often conflicts between expressions of instrumental, affective or traditional community or community of belief, or between social groups.
