Law Out of ContextUniversity of Georgia Press, 2000 - 213 pages Law and society are closely related, though the relationship between the two is both complicated and understudied. In a world of rapidly changing people, places, and ideas, law is frequently taken out of context, often with surprising and unnecessary consequences. As societies and their structures, religious doctrines, and economies change, laws previously established often remain unchanged. Dominant nations frequently impose their own laws on weaker nations, whether or not their cultures are similar. Conquered nations, after regaining freedom, often keep their conquerors' laws by default. Law is often misrepresented in literature, and legal scholars, citizens, and businesspeople alike ignore large portions of the legislation under which they live and work. Even the American system of legal education frequently proves itself irrelevant to a proper understanding of today's laws. Alan Watson studies examples from the ancient laws of Rome and Byzantium, laws within the Christian Gospels, and policies of legal education in the modern United States to demonstrate the need for a new approach to both law and legal education. Law Out of Context illustrates that only by understanding comparative legal history and by paying more attention to changes in our society can we hope to devise consistently fair and respected laws. |
Contents
The Gospels | 44 |
Thomas R R Cobb | 66 |
Law as Literature Literature as Law | 83 |
The Aspiring Lawyer in the United States | 140 |
Sitz in Leben | 163 |
ABBREVIATIONS | 169 |
199 | |
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Common terms and phrases
action Alan Watson animals Aquilian liability authority casebook casebook method caused chapter Christian claimed classical law Cobb Cobb's Code Comparative Law compilers context contract Corpus iuris civilis court culpa damages defendant Delict Digest discussion divorce duty duty of care Edict editors emperor episode example fact fee tail financial loss first-year Gaius give husband imperial important iniuria injury interpretation issue iuris ius gentium Jesus Jews judges juristic writings Justinian killed law of nature law review articles law school legal education legal history Leviticus lex Aquilia Mark Matthew McKerron modern natural law negligence negro owner Papinian parties person Pharisees Pilate plaintiff reason regarded relevant rescripts result rhetoric Roman jurists Roman law Roman-Dutch law Rule Against Perpetuities Sabbath Sanhedrin scholars slavery society sources of law South African law statute Thomas R. R. Cobb tion Ulpian Voet Ad Pandectas wife
References to this book
Modernisierung durch Transfer im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert Tomasz Giaro No preview available - 2006 |