The Influence of Comparative Law on the English Law of Obligations

Those familiar with my work will know that I am essentially a doctrinal English lawyer concerned with practical legal scholarship. So this chapter on comparative law, which has at its heart an empirical survey, is not exactly within my comfort zone. Nevertheless when I looked at the stated comparative law themes of the Obligations VII Conference in 2014, it forcibly struck me, and I am ashamed to admit it, that I simply did not know how much use is being made of comparative law, including comparative common law, by English courts in relation to the law of obligations. I also thought that an examination of this topic would fit very well, at a high level of generality, with the themes of the conference. So for better or for worse this is a chapter on the influence of comparative law, especially comparative common law, on the English law of obligations.