ABSTRACT
This chapter provides general background on the different terms used in describing legal systems and the comparative approach to understanding law. The typology of comparative law breaks down the laws of the world into legal traditions, legal families, and national legal systems. The chapter briefly reviews some of the main legal traditions found in the world including common, civil, Asian, and Islamic legal systems, as well as the phenomenon of mixed legal systems or jurisdictions. Mixed jurisdictions include a handful of countries or entities that combine more than one legal tradition. National legal systems are grouped into or aligned with recognized legal traditions and legal families. The chapter also reviews the two most dominant legal traditions—civil law tradition and the common law tradition. In studying the Asian legal tradition, it also focuses on the Chinese and Japanese legal traditions. A legal tradition is a product of the historical evolution of ways of looking at law and its role in society.
