A Quantitative Look at Cooperation on Litigation

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter shows quantitatively that states prefer partners whose legal rules and institutions are like their own: greater dissimilarity in substantive legal rules or in legal procedures and institutions reduces the likelihood of cooperation between two countries. In forging mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs), states that rank high on judicial independence tend to choose partners whose courts are similarly independent or who belong in the same legal tradition as themselves. Legal-system similarity also fosters cooperation in the return of abducted children—children taken abroad by a parent without the knowledge or consent of the left-behind parent. In cooperation under the Hague Convention on Child Abduction, states prefer partners that are close to themselves in the quality of the rule of law as well as women’s rights and equality.