Doctors and Rules is a unique and immensely scholarly book. It draws on material which has informed our civilization, including many of the social sciences-history, sociology, and psychology, as well as law. The author accesses the current importance of the Hippocratic tradition within medicine, and puts forward various models of its practice. He seeks to expose the often inarticulated foundation of contemporary debates about the law, medicine, and health, and to question some common assumptions of the functionsand structures of social and legal order. The book challenges the idea that legal rules should be respected merely because they exist and because they play a part in centralizing the organization of society. It rejects the notion that the courts always, or even often, offer useful mechanisms for defining and settling disputes. On the contrary, the author sees in their formalism many things which hinder the common cause of humanity. Only a skeptic trained in law but also deeply concerned by our fate and circumstances could have produced it. It also contributes both to the sociology of law and the sociology of medicine. Out of a reassertion of old ways, this book presents a new blueprint for future professional conduct. It is rich in questions and ideas for researchers, teachers, and professionals in the fields of law, medical sociology, and medicine and generally for those concerned with the place of professional conduct.

Doctors and Rules is a unique and immensely scholarly book. It draws on material which has informed our civilization, including many of the social sciences-history, sociology, and psychology, as well as law. The author accesses the current importance of the Hippocratic tradition within medicine, and puts forward various models of its practice. He seeks to expose the often inarticulated foundation of contemporary debates about the law, medicine, and health, and to question some common assumptions of the functionsand structures of social and legal order. The book challenges the idea that legal rules should be respected merely because they exist and because they play a part in centralizing the organization of society. It rejects the notion that the courts always, or even often, offer useful mechanisms for defining and settling disputes. On the contrary, the author sees in their formalism many things which hinder the common cause of humanity. Only a skeptic trained in law but also deeply concerned by our fate and circumstances could have produced it. It also contributes both to the sociology of law and the sociology of medicine. Out of a reassertion of old ways, this book presents a new blueprint for future professional conduct. It is rich in questions and ideas for researchers, teachers, and professionals in the fields of law, medical sociology, and medicine and generally for those concerned with the place of professional conduct.

The end of the last century witnessed two major events in the field of civil justice: the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) came into force and the Human Rights Act (HRA) gave effect to the European Convention on Human Rights. This volume assesses the effect of the Act and attempts to reconcile the expediency and efficiency essential to modern civil justice with the need for recognition of human dignity and equality inherent to human rights. The book is primarily concerned with the effects of the HRA on civil procedure and, in particular, the effects on the CPR. It examines the view that the new civil procedure regime could be susceptible to HRA challenges. More specifically, the work discusses whether there are differences between the CPR and the ECHR ideas of what constitutes a fair trial or just decision and between their views of proportionality. The study notes the differences between common and civil law and discusses whether there is any coming together with other European systems. This book will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers as well as lawyers and judges with an interest in the practical implications of the HRA.