Powerful emotion and pursuit of self-interest have many times led people to break the law with the belief that they are doing so with sound moral reasons. This study, a comprehensive philosophical and legal analysis of the gray area in which the foundations of law and morality clash, views these oblique circumstances from two perspectives: that of the person who faces a possible conflict between the claims of morality and law and must choose whether or not to obey the penal code; and that of the people who make and uphold laws and must decide whether to treat someone with a moral claim to...

This study brings the fruits of writings in political science and political theory to bear on the issues of public law. A critical examination of the centralist democratic views of Dicey is followed by an extensive discussion of a variety of pluralist theories of democracy, tracing their development in the U.S. from the early twentieth century to their more sophisticated recent versions. A similar analysis is applied to a cross-section of English pluralists, and in all cases the discussion is followed by criticism of the views expounded and an exploration of their implications for public law....

Richard Posner is famous throughout the legal world for his pioneering and controversial espousal of the belief that the study of law cannot be divorced from the study of economics. Here, in this volume of essays based upon his Clarendon Lectures, he explores the relationship between the legal systems of the UK and USA. The essays range widely over themes which will be familiar to many students and teachers of law: in the first essay he compares the work of the two most prominent writers on jurisprudence in the second half of this century, one English (HLA Hart) and one American (Ronald...

This book sketches the history of Roman Private Law from the Twelve Tables to modern times, and sets out the elements of the system. It does not attempt to summarize the whole law, but explains and evaluates its most characteristic and influential features.

This is the new sixth edition of Atiyah's Introduction to the Law of Contract that offers a clear and comprehensive account of this area of law. This latest edition, by Stephen Smith, retains the general shape and structure of Atiyah's classic book but as with previous editions, the text has been completely revised and updated to place the law of contract in a modern context. Combining coverage of the law with an account of perspectives on contract law, Smith addresses European influences on the subject and takes all key changes and developments in the law and current literature into account....

Written in the well-established tradition of the Clarendon Law Series, Public Law offers a stimulating re-interpretation of the central themes and problems of English constitutional law. It offers full consideration of the historical development of public law.

This book provides both an introduction to the main categories and sources of family law, and a context enabling the student to see linkages between different aspects of the subject and its relationship with other areas the law, and with other disciplines.

This book contains a slightly expanded version of the Clarendon Lectures in Law given in Oxford in 2001. It deals with major contributions made by the English Courts in the Twentieth Century to three important areas of English contract law. The first is the variation of contracts by subsequent agreement, where developments in the doctrines of consideration and estoppel are discussed. The second is the battle over privacy of contract, and the third is the development of different types of contractual terms.