El desarrollo de la comparación jurídica como ciencia y como materia en la enseñanza en España

Résumé

Generally speaking, the Comparative Law has not reached scientific autonomy in Spain as an independent discipline either in the access to University public function or in the curricula of our degree in Law or postgraduates� Masters. Of course we do have scientific publications and several institutes specialized in this issue. Nevertheless, that does not mean that our legal doctrine is nationalist, too self-confident or that it even maintains an isolationist approach, because just the opposite is true. During the Dictatorship period, the influence of Comparative Constitutional Law in Spain was very strong; all democratic professors of Public Law avoided explaining the poor and absurd legal system and focused on modern political institutions understood as a comparative government. This situation continued during the Constitutional Assembly where the authority of European Constitutional Law patterns was very important; our Constitution of 1978 has a clear influence in several fields of foreign experiences such as the German, the French and the Italian Constitutions. Perhaps this historical background helps to understand that many Spanish legal studies tend to include steady comparative references from other legal orders especially within the European Union. It is indeed a natural and intuitive access to Comparative Law and not the fruit of a reflection emerging from a truly comparative method; and it is furthermore a �micro-comparison� which takes place in every institution and regulation more than a �macro-comparison� of legal orders. However the European integration is nowadays opening some new scenarios. The debate on constitutional pluralism and jurisdictional dialogue in a network are increasing theoretical reflections of many Spanish authors on Comparative Law; the European Court of Human Rights typical approach is also to search for a common background in domestic regulations of European fundamental rights: a kind of comparative method. As a matter of fact, the old controversy between de double nature of Comparative Law as a method or a science tends to be resolved defending that every science, and legal culture, is the result of various methods, one of which is the opening to comparative arguments.