J. Stanley McQuade, a longtime professor of law, knows all too well that you can’t teach the subject by reiterating technical rules and procedures.

To really understand law and how it works, it is necessary to identify and consider the underlying ideas that led to the creation of law and legal systems. That’s exactly what he does in this collection of stories.

All of the characters in each of the stories—except one—are entirely fictitious, but they provide a critical introduction to important thinkers who have contributed substantially to the...