The Common Real-Life Reference Point Methodology—Or: ‘The Mcdonald’s Index’ for Comparative Administrative Law and Regulation

This chapter reviews the conceptual and methodological difficulties in the field of comparative administrative law. It seeks to present a new and different conceptual and practical tool for the study of comparative administrative law (CAL). This suggested methodology is based on using a common real-life reference point such as McDonald’s branches, and testing the ways in which various legal regimes apply to them in each and every different legal system. The chapter first presents the various difficulties and fallacies of current CAL research. It then demonstrates the proposed methodology and discusses its potential, as well as some constraints and problems that should be taken into account. The chapter concludes by inviting the community of comparative public lawyers to join the project of mapping the field of CAL and developing a new common legal language that would enable everyone to benefit from comparative legal research.