Oscar G. Chase and Janet Walker, Introduction to “Civil Law, Common Law and the Future of Categories,” Walker and Chase, eds.(LexisNexis 2010). This volume includes the edited papers presented at a 2009 conference of the International Association of Procedure Law held at the Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. Presenters considered whether in view of ongoing world-wide procedural reforms the age-old categories of common law and civil law continue to be useful procedural taxonomies and, if not, whether new categories are emerging that will have a role to play in the future. Distinguished scholars from 35 countries that represented virtually all of the world’s legal systems took an informed look at the directions of procedural reform in the context of the conference themes. Differing perspectives and opinions based on knowledgeable descriptions of changing systems led to provocative discussions. In the Introduction to the book co-authors Oscar G. Chase and Janet Walker explore the major themes of the conference including the underlying issue of the continuing utility of categories as organizers of any system of thought, and consider possible alternative categorization.