Abstract

The article gives an account on the epistemological challenges and the heuristic insights stemming from a comparison between Eastern and Western legal systems. After criticizing the Western approach to the legal consequences of globalization (underscoring the legal diversity that originates from globalization processes), the article assumes the necessity of extending the horizons of legal comparison to non-Western legal systems. In this perspective the article concentrates on Asian constitutional systems and Asian constitutional law, exploring the challenges that the studies on this area convey to the traditional epistemological categories of comparative law. The article concludes suggesting a more pluralistic and less formal approach, based on the interplay between State-law, on the one side, and rules and legal practices coming from social behaviors, traditions and religious beliefs, on the other.