This text is a critical study of the public/private law divide in the common law tradition. Professor Oliver's starting point is that special substantive duties of legality, fairness and rationality are imposed by the common law on bodies discharging public functions, but not always on bodies discharging what are considered 'private' functions. She questions the validity of the traditional dichotomy, and proposes new criteria for imposing such duties in accordance with underlying values, including the control of power and respect for the individual's autonomy and dignity. Written by a leading law academic, this is an important and original contribution to public law literature, providing an informed and considered overview for legal academics and students.

This is the paperback edition of a collection of original papers from distinguished legal theorists offers a challenging assessment of the nature and viability of legal positivism, a branch of legal theory that continues to dominate contemporary legal theoretical debates. To what extent is the law adequately described as `autonomous'? Should law claim autonomy? These and other questions are addressed by the authors in this carefully edited collection. It will be of interested to all lawyers and scholars interested in legal philosophy and legal theory.

This is a short and succinct summary of the unique position of Roman law in European culture by one of the world's leading legal historians. Peter Stein's masterly study assesses the impact of Roman law in the ancient world, and its continued unifying influence throughout medieval and modern Europe. Roman Law in European History is unparalleled in lucidity and authority, and should prove of enormous utility for teachers and students (at all levels) of legal history, comparative law and European Studies. Award-winning on its appearance in German translation, this English rendition of a magisterial work of interpretive synthesis is an invaluable contribution to the understanding of perhaps the most important European legal tradition of all.

In a projected four-volume series, The Common Law in Colonial America, William E. Nelson will show how the legal systems of Britain's thirteen North American colonies, which were initially established in response to divergent political, economic, and religious initiatives, slowly converged until it became possible by the 1770s to imagine that all thirteen participated in a common American legal order, which diverged in its details but differed far more substantially from English common law. Volume three, The Chesapeake and New England, 1660-1750, reveals how Virginia, which was founded to earn profit, and Massachusetts, which was founded for Puritan religious ends, had both adopted the common law by the mid-eighteenth century and begun to converge toward a common American legal model. The law in the other New England colonies, Nelson argues, although it was distinctive in some respects, gravitated toward the Massachusetts model, while Maryland's law gravitated toward that of Virginia.

This book explores the thesis that legal roles force people to engage in moral combat, an idea that is implicit in the assumption that citizens may be morally required to disobey unjust laws, while judges may be morally required to punish citizens for civil disobedience. Heidi Hurd advances the surprising argument that the law cannot require us to do what morality forbids. Moral Combat is a sophisticated, well-conceived and carefully argued book on a very important and controversial topic at the junction between legal and political philosophy. It will be of interest to moral, legal, and political philosophers, as well as teachers and students of professional ethics in law.

Law and Empire is the first systematic treatment in English by a historian of the nature, aims and efficacy of public law in the society of the Later Roman Empire. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the author offers new interpretations of central issues in the study of Roman law--what it was and how effective: contemporary attitudes to torture and punishment, judicial corruption, and the settlement of disputes.

The first comprehensive treatment of Islamic contract law in the English language, Islamic Contract Law serves as both a reference work and an authoritative statement of the law and the Fiqh underlying it. The book's structure draws from the tradition of western contract law books to enable non-expert readers to easily navigate its structure, sources, and application. It covers the complete spectrum of Islamic contract regulation, and includes chapters on the formation of contracts, the sources of Islamic contract law, the role of intention, legal capacity, the importance of the subject matter, as well as the prohibited elements of contracts. Further chapters discuss validity and defects, contractual terms, bilateral agreements, equity-based partnership contracts, ancillary and unilateral contracts, termination and damages, and the role of third parties. Finally, a chapter is devoted to the application of Islamic law in contemporary Muslim-majority legal systems. This is a key work for understanding the contract underpinnings of Islamic finance instruments and is a must-read for scholars, legal professionals, and students with an interest in contracts governed by Islamic Law.

This book is a cross-national study of lawyers who devote themselves to serving political cuases. The essays collected here bring togehter the work of eighteen scholars, each of whom contributes a valuable portrait of lawyers who sacrifice financial advantage to use their professional skills to promote their vision of a more just society.

This is the first comprehensive account of women's legal and social positions in the west from classical antiquity right through to the early middle ages. The main focus of the book is on the late antique period, with constant reference to classical Roman law and the lives of women in the early empire.

The essays in this collection use interdisciplinary perspectives to investigate issues in international and comparative law, primarily employing theoretical or empirical economics. They demonstrate that the economic analysis of law has much to contribute to the study of international matters, despite the fact that mainstream international legal scholars and economists have had relatively little interaction. Original versions of the essays were presented at a conference sponsored by Duquesne and George Mason Universities in the Spring of 1995, and some essays are followed by comments from conference participants.

This new critique of Aquinas's theory of natural law presents an incisive, new analysis of the central themes and relevant texts in the Summa Theologiae which became the classical canon for natural law. Professor Lisska discusses Aquinas's view of ethical naturalism within the context of the contemporary revival and recovery of Aristotelian ethics, arguing that Aquinas is fundamentally Aristotelian in the foundations of his moral theory. The book looks at the historical development of natural law themes in the twentieth century, and in particular demonstrates the important connections between Aquinas and contemporary legal philosophers. The book should be of considerable interest to scholars of jurisprudence as well as philosophers.

This book provides the definitive reference point on all the issues pertaining to dealing with the 'crisis of the rule of law' in the European Union. Both Member State and EU levels are considered. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the concrete legal bases and instruments that the EU may avail itself of for enforcing rule of law, and the volume clearly demonstrates that a number of legally sound ways of rule of law oversight are available. Contributors are leading scholars who assess the potential role to be played by the various bodies in the context of dealing with the EU's rule of law imperfections.

This volume presents twelve original essays by contemporary natural law theorists and their critics. Natural law theory is enjoying a revival of interest today in a variety of disciplines, including law, philosophy, political science, and theology and religious studies. These essays offer readers a sense of the lively contemporary debate among natural law theorists of different schools, as well as between natual law theorists and their critics.

This book is concerned with the ethics of judging in courts of law. Professor Burton analyzes the grounds, content, and force of a judge's legal and moral duties to uphold the law. He defends two primary theses. The first is the good faith thesis, whereby judges are bound in law to uphold the law, even when they have discretion, by acting only on reasons warranted by the conventional law as grounds for judical decisions. The good faith thesis counters the common view that judges are not bound by the law when they exercise discretion. The second is the permissible discretion thesis, whereby, when exercised in good faith, judicial discretion is compatible with the legitimacy of adjudication in a constitutional democracy under the Rule of Law. The permissible discretion thesis counters the view that judges can fulfill their duty to uphold the law only when the law yields determinate results. Together, these two theses provide an original and powerful theory of adjudication in sharp contrast both to conservative theories that would restrict the scope of adjudication unduly, and to leftist critical theories that would liberate judges from the Rule of Law.

In The Roman Law Tradition an international team of distinguished legal scholars explores the various ways in which Roman law has affected and continues to affect patterns of legal decision-making throughout the world. Roman Law began as the local law of a small Italian city. It grew to dominate the legal relationships of the Mediterranean basin for the first five hundred years of our era. The revival of its study in the medieval universities led to its influencing the subsequent development of the legal system of western Europe and thereafter those parts of the rest of the World colonized from Europe. Roman legal ideas penetrated procedure as well as the substance of law and assisted the process of harmonization and codification of local customary laws. Techniques of legal reasoning which first emerge in Rome continue in daily use. Roman law was also of immense significance in the emergence of modern political thought.

This book is concerned with the ethics of judging in courts of law. Professor Burton analyzes the grounds, content, and force of a judge's legal and moral duties to uphold the law. He defends two primary theses. The first is the good faith thesis, whereby judges are bound in law to uphold the law, even when they have discretion, by acting only on reasons warranted by the conventional law as grounds for judical decisions. The good faith thesis counters the common view that judges are not bound by the law when they exercise discretion. The second is the permissible discretion thesis, whereby, when exercised in good faith, judicial discretion is compatible with the legitimacy of adjudication in a constitutional democracy under the Rule of Law. The permissible discretion thesis counters the view that judges can fulfill their duty to uphold the law only when the law yields determinate results. Together, these two theses provide an original and powerful theory of adjudication in sharp contrast both to conservative theories that would restrict the scope of adjudication unduly, and to leftist critical theories that would liberate judges from the Rule of Law.

One of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2019 One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2019 Shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize 'As enjoyable as it is thought-provoking' Jared Diamond By the authors of the international bestseller Why Nations Fail, based on decades of research, this powerful new big-picture framework explains how some countries develop towards and provide liberty while others fall to despotism, anarchy or asphyxiating norms - and explains how liberty can thrive despite new threats. Liberty is hardly the 'natural' order of things; usually states have been either too weak to protect individuals or too strong for people to protect themselves from despotism. There is also a happy Western myth that where liberty exists, it's a steady state, arrived at by 'enlightenment'. But liberty emerges only when a delicate and incessant balance is struck between state and society - between elites and citizens. This struggle becomes self-reinforcing, inducing both state and society to develop a richer array of capacities, thus affecting the peacefulness of societies, the success of economies and how people experience their daily lives. Explaining this new framework through compelling stories from around the world, in history and from today - and through a single diagram on which the development of any state can be plotted - this masterpiece helps us understand the past and present, and analyse the future. 'In this highly original and gratifying fresco, Daron Acemoglu and Jim Robinson take us on a journey through civilizations, time and locations. Their narrow corridor depicts the constant and often unstable struggle of society to keep the Leviathan in check and of the Leviathan to weaken the cage of norms. A remarkable achievement that only they could pull off and that seems destined to repeat the stellar performance of Why Nations Fail' Jean Tirole, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2014 'Another outstanding, insightful book by Acemoglu and Robinson on the importance and difficulty of getting and maintaining a successful democratic state. Packed with examples and analysis, it is a pleasure to read' Peter Diamond, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2010 'The Narrow Corridor takes us on a fascinating journey, across continents and through human history, to discover the critical ingredient of liberty. It finds that it's up to each of us: that ingredient is our own commitments, as citizens, to support democratic values. In these times, there can be no more important message - nor any more important book' George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001 'How should we view the current challenges facing our democracies? This brilliant, timely book offers a simple, powerful framework for assessing alternative forms of social governance. The analysis is a reminder that it takes vigilance to maintain a proper balance between the state and society - to stay in the 'narrow corridor' - and avoid falling either into statelessness or dictatorship' Bengt Holmstrom, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2016

Voted one of Christianity Today's 1998 Books of the Year With uninterrupted clarity, frequent eloquence and occasional humor, J. Budziszewski presents and defends the natural law tradition in what is at once a primer for students and a vigorous argument for scholars. Written on the Heart expounds the work of the leading architects of theory on natural law, including Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and John Locke. It also takes up contemporary philosophy, theology and political science, colorfully running against the intimidating tide of advanced pluralism that finds natural law so difficult to tolerate. Throughout the volume, Budziszewski sure-footedly achieves his self-confessed aim of displaying the "subtlety, richness and intellectual surprise" of the natural law tradition.

This work contains most of the cases required for a study of the law of succession and is a very good aid for students who do not have access to the law reports. The title contains a summary of the facts of each case, an extract from the case and a note in which the principles expounded in the case are explained. Decisions up to June 2002 have been considered for inclusion. Hierdie werk bevat die meeste sake wat vir 'n studie van die erfreg nodig is en is 'n baie goeie hulpmiddel vir studente wat nie toegang tot die hofverslae het nie. Die titel bevat 'n opsomming van die feite van elke saak, 'n uittreksel uit die uitspraak asook 'n aantekening waarin die beginsels wat in die saak ter sprake gekom het, ontleed word.

There are no legal institutions other than pignus and hypotheca (i.e. mortgage) where the formative effect of legal practice can be so clearly observed. Security and Credit in Roman Law outlines the legal history of these institutions in terms of an iterative relationship between transactional lawyers drafting legal transactions and Roman jurisprudence deploying its analytical skills in order to accommodate new transactional practices into the Roman legal system. The evolution of the Roman law of real security, well known through the legal sources (Justinian's Digest and Code), is reconstructed, while matching it with actual banking practices, in particular the secured lending transactions documented in the archive of the Sulpicii. In the late classical period the imperial chancery increasingly interfered with it in order to provide a considerable degree of protection to debtors. The (largely but certainly not completely) spontaneous evolution of Roman law produced a law of secured transactions which was highly sophisticated and versatile, allowing non-possessory security, multiple charges, pledges of receivables, antichretic pledges, and even floating charges over a dynamic fund of assets. Since legal systems often adapt in reaction to impulses from their economic environment, the complexity of the Roman law of real security indicates that pignus and hypotheca did play a significant role in the Roman economy. It will be shown that this role was generally a positive one. Its main weaknesses were lack of publicity and the presence of fiscal charges: even these weaknesses did not undermine the effectiveness of secured transactions.

A core text for the Law and Society or Sociology of Law course offered in Sociology, Criminal Justice, Political Science, and Schools of Law. · John Sutton offers an explicitly analytical perspective to the subject - how does law change? What makes law more or less effective in solving social problems? What do lawyers do? · Chapter 1 contrasts normative and sociological perspectives on law, and presents a brief primer on the logic of research and inference as it is applied to law related issues. · Theories of legal change are discussed within a common conceptual framework that highlights the explantory strengths and weaknesses of different arguments. · Discussions of "law in action" are explicitly comparative, applying a consistent model to explain the variable outcomes of civil rights legislation. · Many concrete, in-depth examples throughout the chapters.

Spanning two centuries and five Nordic countries, this book questions the view that political lawyers are required for the development of a liberal political regime. It combines cross-disciplinary theory and careful empirical case studies by country experts whose regional insights are brought to bear on wider global contexts. The theory of the legal complex posits that lawyers will not simply mobilize collectively for material self-interest; instead they will organize and struggle for the limited goal of political liberalism. Constituted by a moderate state, core civil rights, and civil society freedoms, political liberalism is presented as a discrete but professionally valued good to which all lawyers can lend their support. Leading scholars claim that when one finds struggles against political repression, politics of the Legal Complex are frequently part of that struggle. One glaring omission in this research program is the Nordic region. This insightful volume provides a comprehensive account of the history and politics of lawyers of the last 200 years in the Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. Topping most global indexes of core civil rights, these states have been found to contain few to no visible legal complexes. Where previous studies have characterized lawyers as stewards and guardians of the law that seek to preserve its semi-autonomous nature, these legal complexes have emerged in a manner that challenges the standard narrative. This book offers rational choice and structuralist explanations for why and when lawyers mobilise collectively for political liberalism. In each country analysis, authors place lawyers in nineteenth century state transformation and emerging constitutionalism, followed by expanding democracy and the welfare state, the challenge of fascism and world war, the tensions of the Cold War, and the latter-day rights revolutions. These analyses are complemented by a comprehensive comparative introduction, and a concluding reflection on how the theory of the legal complex might be recast, making The Limits of the Legal Complex an invaluable resource for scholars and practitioners alike.

This volume provides an introduction to the United Kingdom's constitution that recognises and embraces its historical, social, political, and legal dimensions. It critically examines the radical changes to the UK constitution that have occurred over the last thirty years, paying particular attention to the revival of the constituent territories of the UK - Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England - and to the increasing role played by the judges in constitutional disputes. The UK constitution is presented as being shaped by a set of constitutional principles, including state sovereignty, separation of powers, democracy, subsidiarity, and the rule of law, principles which set the overall structure of the constitution and inform statutes and the decisions of judges. Adopting a principled approach to the UK constitution allows us to see both the clarity of the constitution's structure and also helps explain its complexities.