This book presents a developed theory of how national lawyers can approach, understand, and make use of foreign law. Its theme is pursued through a set of detailed essays which look at the courts as well as business practice and, with the help of statistics, demonstrate what type of academic work has any impact on the 'real' world. Engaging with Foreign Law thus aims to carve out a new niche for comparative law in this era of globalisation, and may also be the only book which deals in some depth with both private and public law in countries such as England, Germany, France, South Africa, and the United States.

1. Reflections on the State of Comparative Law I: The Twilight of the Heroes
2. Reflections on the State of Comparative Law II: The Era of Societal Needs
3. Spreading the Gospel (and the Name of the Evangelist)
4. South Africa
5. The Situation in Germany
6. The Reluctance to Borrow Ideas from Abroad: Two Strange Bedfellows- The United States and France
7. The Focused Approach in Public Law: A Look at English and French Law
8. Another Lesson on Packaging: The Grey Zone where Tort Law Overlaps with Administrative Law
9. Foreign Law Inspiring National Law: Lessons from Greatorex v Greatorex
10. Comparative Law in Commercial Practice
11. Reflecting on the Future: The Subject and its Teachers

“Voici donc un livre passionnant, tant par son contenu que par sa forme. D'une écriture élégante mais claire et ferme, d'une liberté de ton réjouissante, il offre au lecteur une méthode fondée sur l'expérience et un trésor d'informations qui le met au fait des derniers développements dans le domaine du droit comparé.” –  P. Marchal, Revue de droit international et de droit comparé, 2009 No. 4

“Markesinis' and Fedtke's excellence of scholarship and breadth of erudition is beyond doubt, and so is the richness of the topics dealt with in Engaging with Foreign Law.” –  Carsten Gerner-Beuerle, King's Law Journal, Vol. 20, Issue 3, 2009