EC and WTO a comparative law study
A somewhat outdated name for comparative civil procedure is adjective law. The substantive law determines the rights and duties of ordinary individuals, and thus is the chief concern of any legal system. The adjectival rules of procedure are sidekicks to the substantive law, because their major function is to translate abstract claims into concrete cases whose outcomes comport with principles of the substantive law. In dealing with those substantive issues, it is often said that the bedrock principle of the common law lies in its respect for individual autonomy or self-rule. Each person is said to be the owner of his own body, and can decide when to steer clear of certain transactions and when to enter into them. Individual autonomy allows ordinary individuals immunity from external aggression; it explains why they are allowed to acquire the ownership of property and why they are allowed to sell their labour only on terms that they regard as personally satisfactory.
