Judges, Judicial Opinions, and Culture from a Comparative Perspective. An Introduction

Abstract

Legal taxonomies have been central in comparative law. 1 Since its emergence as an autonomous discipline, represented symbolically by the First International Conference of Comparative Law in 1900, 2 one of its key objectives was the ordering of the legal world in categories analogous to those of the natural sciences. These classifications would allow describing the different types of legal systems that exist around the world, as well as their similarities and differences. It is therefore not surprising that a good part of 20 th century comparative law revolved around the idea of legal families or traditions. 3 Nor is it surprising that an important part of 20 th century comparative law revolved around the articulation and application of the criteria that would distinguish the law families of the world, style 4 or ideology, 5 for example. This academic enterprise would allow creating maps of the global legal field. These maps could help to understand it and to make legal and political decisions of great importance, such as what legal systems should exchange legal products and how