| Book Title | Global Justice Reform: A Comparative Methodology |
| Book Author | Chodosh, Hiram E. |
| Bibliographic Information | NYU Press, 2005, Pages : 225, $45.00, ISBN 0814716350 |
Review note
Global Justice Reform. By Hiram E. Chodosh. New York, London: New York University Press, 2005. Pp. xii, 227, $45.
Reviewed by H. Patrick Glenn
This useful and informative book provides a refreshing and critical look at the debate over methods of comparative law and then practices what it preaches, in applying an appropriate comparative method to the intractable problems of judicial reform in developing countries, notably in Indonesia and India. The author rejects the idea of a single comparative method (‘the’ comparative method, as it is often depressingly referred to) and argues both for the multiplicity of methods and the complexity of any useful and interesting comparison. The method to be used will depend on the problem to be resolved (p. 26) and the complexity of comparison must be recognized in order to overcome the inadequacy of ‘limited feature comparison’(p. 39). The latter has dominated the taxonomic efforts of nineteenth and twentieth century comparative law, in categorizing national laws into legal ‘families’ according to a single or limited number of features (language, geography, sources, religion, etc.). This type of comparison, according to the author, is neither accurate nor useful, and in this he joins the ranks of a number of contemporary critics of comparative law, as it has been practiced over the last two centuries.
Judicial reform is a vital part of the ‘global rule of law challenge’ (p. 65) and all justice reform efforts are ‘profoundly comparative’ in nature (p. 5). Such efforts have often suffered, however, from overblown theoretical claims and top-down methods of implementation. To expand the data, the author deploys a number of ‘anti-dilemma strategies’ which will facilitate ‘bottom up’ understanding and appreciation of possibilities of change. These include setting aside competing values, ‘sweetening the deal’ with side payments, pursuing multiple options, finding a third way, attacking false polarities, and a process of ‘divide and conquer’ (Ch. 6). This teaching of the importance of the local has today become more frequent, given previous misfortunes of law and development, but the author provides a full and theoretical justification for local understanding, as well as balance, in any effort of reform.
The book is heavily documented and will therefore be useful for reference purposes, but its ease of use is severely limited by the ongoing and lamentable practice, of this and too many other publishing houses, of using endnotes rather than footnotes. Life is too short for endnotes, particularly in books as useful as this one.
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