The Future of Comparative Labor Law as an Academic Discipline and as a Practical Tool
14 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2005
Abstract
The article argues that due to new challenges labor law no longer can be treated merely as a phenomenon within national borders. No country any longer can escape the impacts of international norm-setting and the consequences of globalization. Therefore, comparative labor law has become more important then ever before and will become even more important in the future.
Comparative labor law, however, is only useful if certain prerequisites are fulfilled. Functions and not institutions are to be compared. This is only possible if the analysis is focusing on the interaction of all the elements of a specific system and if it goes beyond terminology and traditional categories. Of utmost importance is an interdisciplinary approach, allowing for integration of extra-legal factors. It also is necessary to include soft law and its impact on the function of labor law as a whole.
The main purpose of comparative law is a better understanding of one's own labor law system. As a source of experience made elsewhere comparative labor law also may serve as an important tool in legal reform. And in particular it may increase the sensitivity for the fact that - at least in principle - it is impossible to transplant elements from one system to another one. It, however, should be mentioned that comparative labor law not based on the prerequisites sketched above may be abused for political purposes.
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