This collection of the papers of Tony Honore, is taken from his work in the field of legal philosophy over the last quarter century. The introductory essay is followed by three chapters describing the building blocks of legal systems - groups or societies, laws, and the motives to obey or conform. Succeeding papers discuss norms and obligations, rights and justice, analysing such fundamentals as ownership, property rights and the assertion of rights. The book concludes with an essay arguing for the use of law to encourage or reinforce morality.

This book is a study of the character and compilation of Justinian's Digest, the main volume of Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis (528-534 AD). This is often considered as one of the most influential works in the history of Western culture. It remains significant, partly because it is still a part of the law in six countries in Southern Africa, and partly because of its role in the evolution over fifteen hundred years of the theory and practice of human rights - a theme explored in Professor Honore's previous book studying Ulpian (2nd ed, OUP 2002).
The book gives a detailed account of the probable methods used in the compilation of the Digest and distinguishes the respective roles of imperial ministers, law professors, and advocates. It also examines the broader issues raised by the Digest's creation - how it was conceived by its compilers, its purpose, and its impact.

This is a thoroughly revised edition of the only full-scale work about possibly the most influential lawyer of all time, the Syrian Ulpian. Ulpian wrote a massive survey of Roman law in 213-17 AD and Tony Honor´e argues that his philosophy, of freedom and equality, makes him a pioneer of human rights.

This is a new book from an eminent and well-respected scholar. A work of reference; an essay in the analysis of style; a contribution to the prosopography of the late Roman quaestorship; a reflection on the fall of the western and the survival of the eastern Roman empire: the book combines all four. Using his innovative method of analysis, already successfully employed in his highly-acclaimed Emperors and Lawyers (2nd edn 1994, OUP), the author examines the laws of a crucial period of the late Roman empire (379-455 AD), a time when the West collapsed while the East survived. He allots the laws to their likely drafters and shows why the eastern Theodosian Code (429-438 AD), intended to restore the legal and administrative unity of the Roman empire, came too late to save the West. The accompanying Palingenesia on an accompanying disk will enable scholars to read the texts chronologically and to judge the soundness of the arguments advanced.

Here is a simple introduction to the intellectual challenges presented by law in the western secular tradition written by one of that tradition's most revered and eminent scholars. This book provides the intelligent student contemplating a career in law with a brief yet comprehensive introduction to the subject. It also makes an ideal starting point for the general reader who is curious to explore the intellectual interest of the subject.
Treating not just British law, but the whole western tradition of law, Professor Honore guides the reader through eleven topics which straddle various branches of the law, including constitutional and criminal law, property, and contracts. He also explores moral and historical aspects of the law, including a discussion of justice and the difference between civil and common law systems. The law, Honore argues, is mainly concerned with the question of obedience to authority, and establishing the situations in which obedience is required and those in which it may be waived ought to be the central concern of all legal theorists.
All these issues are examined broadly and simply, keeping technicalities at a minimum. The result is a book that offers as broad a picture of western law as possible, providing an accessible overview and a firm base for further study."

This second edition of Tony Honore's controversial book analyzes some 2,609 legal rulings (rescripts) given by Roman Emperors between 193 and 305 AD, and argues that, though issued in the name of emperors, they were really both in style and substance the work of professional lawyers. From their style Honore is able to detect when one lawyer-draftsman gave way to another, and to identify some of the lawyers and allot most of the rescripts to the true author. On this basis he argues that in the third century there was a convention that the rights of citizens would be governed by objective legal standards. The Roman Empire was not in fact a pure autocracy. Extensively updated and edited, this edition includes on a high-density diskette a reconstruction (Palingenesia) of the 2,609 rescripts. This new and original work of reference will enable scholars to read the texts chronologically and to judge the soundness of the arguments advanced.

This new edition of the seminal 1959 work retains the original analysis of commonsense causal concepts, and includes hundreds of new decisions and a substantial preface in which criticisms are met and a rationale propounded for common-sense causal notions as an element in legal responsibility.