This course aims to explore the multiple dimensions of the comparative study of law, both from a practical and critical viewpoint. It will discuss topics such as: macro- and micro-comparisons, the significance of legal language and translation, legal families, traditions and cultures, legal education, as well as the various uses and abuses of comparative legal enquiries, as a tool for law reform and judicial practice, in the face of increasingly interdependent globalised legal orders. The course will focus on the various aims, functions and possible methods, along with the actors and users of comparative legal studies, examining how this lens brings fruitful and surprising insights and critiques about the nature of law itself.