Comparative Law in a Changing World

The comparative method in law has a long history both internationally (the creation of the International Academy of Comparative Law in 1924) and domestically (the works of M. M. Kovalevsky, B. N. Chicherin, P. G. Vinogradov and others). In modern conditions, comparative law and its inherent comparative method allow one to objectively identify the general and the specific features in legal systems produced by various civilizations.Geopolitical shifts in recent decades and the globalization of many social processes demonstrate that it is necessary to adjust R. David’s operational classification of legal families and legal systems. At the same time, along with the popular concept of the “clash of civilizations”, there is an urgent need for a dialogue of civilizations in our troubled world. The task of such a dialogue in the field of international relations is to find the legal basis for international integration and the organization of interstate cooperation (BRICS, SCO). In the field of comparative constitutional law — especially if one analyses the constitutional reforms of recent decades — there is an obvious tendency that states’ constitutional identities strengthen, which in turn reflects their civilizational and cultural originality. Finally, each branch of modern law needs the generalisation of the experience owned by various legal systems, starting with judicial law, issues concerning the legal regime of digital technologies and ending with the prospects of the so-called “alternative justice”.