Evolution and the Common Law

ISBN-13: 9780521614917 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 306 str.

Allan C. Hutchinson

Opis

This book offers a radical challenge to all existing accounts of the common law's development. Contrary to received jurisprudential wisdom, it maintains there is no grand theory which will explain satisfactorily the dynamic interactions of change and stability in the common law's history. Offering fresh and original readings of Charles Darwin's and Hans-Georg Gadamer's works, the book demonstrates that law is a rhetorical activity that can only be properly appreciated in its historical and political context. It reveals that, like life, law is an organic process and that common law is a perpetual work-in-progress.

Recenzje

'…it does…provide for an interesting read which will be able to appeal, I think not only to Critical Legal studies enthusiasts but also to otherwise inclined legal scholars.' Social and Legal Studies

Spis treści

1. Evolution and the common law: an introduction; 2. Darwin's excellent adventure: evolution and law; 3. The creationists' persistence: jurisprudence and God; 4. Taming the bulldog: the natural and pragmatic; 5. Tracking the common law: the routine and revolutionary; 6. Looking for Gadamer: traditions and transformations; 7. Reading between the lines: courts and constitutions; 8. Making changes: progress and politics; 9. Among the trees: a conclusion.