Events in Europe are impelling Americans to give European civil law systems more attention. While commercial considerations are providing the catalyst, better U.S. law could be a by-product. Americans familiar with European systems will recognize, as Pound did, the extent to which the causes for dissatisfaction with the administration of justice in the United States lie in our peculiar legal system. With knowledge of civil law systems, we could work better for the future that Pound sought, one where our courts will be "swift and certain agents of justice" and the "sporting theory of justice" will be just a memory.