Over the last years, comparative law has firmly established itself on the agenda of those who teach, practice and make law. At a time of rapid developments in technology and economy, and of increased reliance on international law making mechanisms, the study of other legal systems has gained so much in relevance because it helps us to understand our own law and to provide solutions for legal issues which have become more and more global.
The Oxford University Comparative Law Forum seeks to promote the study and discussion of legal issues from a comparative perspective by making full advantage of the benefits of on-line publication as a fast, cheap and widely accessible means for publishing serious academic writing.
On-line publication can be so much faster than the printed media because there is no need for typesetting and galley proofs, no need to delay publication by squeezing articles into a schedule of quarterly instalments, and no need to ferry paper versions between authors, editors, and reviewers. It is so much cheaper because the process of publication is much less laborious, and because there is no issue of printing, storing and carriage. It is so widely accessible because it is available free of charge to anybody connected to the Internet, thus reaching audiences which a new printed journal could not possibly reach at times where many libraries struggle to continue with existing subscriptions.
A true novelty of the Oxford University Comparative Law Forum is its interactive nature. It facilitates academic discussion by providing a public discussion platform for each published article. Readers can thus comment and engage into an academic discussion with the author and other readers, regardless of whether they happen to be in the UK or Italy, Oman or Malaysia, Mozambique, Canada or New Zealand. There is, to our knowledge, to date no other journal on comparative law which offers this facility, but we hope that ours will not remain the only one for a long time.
The Oxford University Comparative Law Forum involves six members of the Law Faculty of the University of Oxford as Editors , and one student as Assistant Editor . This firm link with the University of Oxford is also reflected in the perspective of the publication and a strong involvement of authors connected to our Faculty. However, this does not imply that we are primarily addressing an Oxford, English or UK audience as readers and contributors. On the contrary: we welcome contributions from around the globe and hope that the Forum will prove to be as international as its topic.
We welcome feedback. Please mail us with your comments and suggestions.
The Editors