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Abstract
The idea of comparison in this paper is well explained by the expression “legal orders in dialogue”, demonstrating the enduring relevance of what Otto KahnFreund emphasised many years ago. According to him, comparative law is not a separate subject matter but a tool of analysis, the best way to understand one’s legal system. The time is ripe today for some considerations on comparison for the reasons familiar to all the disciplines of the legal area and others typical of labour law. This paper concentrates on the logic specific to labour law and particularly on the Italian Workers’ Statute, which is a clear example of what can be defined as both an “ascending” and “descending” comparison. Ascending because the Statute is “indebted” to the comparative method since some topics come from an appraisal of other legal systems. However, it also represents a descending comparison because the Statute anticipated significant developments ten years before they happened in France and Spain.