Looking at the theory and practice of legal borrowing and adaptation in different areas of the world, this volume discusses legal transplants, the role of the state in producing socio-legal change and the effects of globalization.

This collection looks at the theory and practice of legal borrowing and adaptation in different areas of the world: Europe, the USA and Latin America, South East Asia and Japan. Many of the contributors focus on fundamental theoretical issues. What are legal transplants? What is the role of the state in producing socio-legal change? What are the conditions of successful legal transfers? How is globalization changing these conditions? Such problems are also discussed with reference to substantive and specific case studies. When and why did Japanese rules of product liability come into line with those of the EU and the USA? How and why did judicial review come late to the legal system in the Netherlands and Scandinavia? The chapters in this volume, which include a comprehensive theoretical introduction, offer a range of valuable insights even if they also show that the "state of art" in the study of legal transfers is disputed and far from settled.

Part 1 Theorizing legal adaptation: towards a sociology of legal adaptation, David Nelken
what "legal transplants"?, Pierre Legrand
is there a logic of legal transplants?, Roger Cotterrell
some comments on Cotterrell and legal transplants, Lawrence Friedman
state formation and legal change - on the impact of international politics, Alex Jettinghoff
from globalization of law to law under globalization, Wolf Heydebrand. Part 2 Case studies of legal adaptation: the still-birth and re-birth or product liability in Japan, Luke Nottage
the empty space of the modern in Japanese law discourse, Takao Tanase
comparative law and legal transplantation in South East Asia, Andrew Harding
marketization, public service and universal service, Tony Prosser
the import and export of law and legal institutions - international strategies in national palace wars, Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth
the vultures fly east - the creation and globalization of the distressed debt market, John Flood.