In a tribute to the work and writings of Professor John Bell, leading scholars present essays on factors affecting the course of ‘legal development’ in common law and civilian systems. This introductory chapter draws on their essays and John Bell’s scholarship to reflect on what is distinctive about comparative legal research. It shows how a comparative enquiry expands the boundaries of the law’s domain beyond ‘black-letter’ legal knowledge to embrace the reasons and context for legal development. It reminds us that a comparative law enquiry includes looking at the law’s roots in society, that is, at the law both in action and in the books, the legal institutions, legal cultures, and the extra-legal environment. References to the authors’ case studies in tort, contract, legal history and judicial studies illustrate the discussion of the key features of comparative law research.

This chapter recapitulates the book’s main theoretical and empirical findings. By unpacking the interaction between rights on the books and rights in practice, we can gain a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the evolving meanings of rights and claims-making options in Korea. We find that although the types of rights claims are diversifying and opportunities and resources for rights claiming have improved, obtaining rights protection and catalyzing social change remains challenging. We then generalize our findings on rights-based mobilization in Korea and beyond, categorizing them into lessons on (1) understanding rights in action, (2) rights as plural and fluid in meaning, and (3) rights hierarchies privileging certain groups over others. We conclude with thoughts on the future and challenges of rights claiming in Korea.