Law underlies our society
- it protects our rights imposes duties on each of us & establishes a framework for the conduct of almost every social political & economic activity. The punishment of crime compensation of the injured & the enforcement of contracts are merely some of the tasks of a modern legal system. It also strives to achieve justice promote freedom & protect our security. The result is a system that while it touches all of our daily lives is properly understood by only a few with its impenetrable jargon obsolete procedures & interminable stream of Byzantine statutes & judgments of the courts. This clear jargon-free Very Short Introduction aims to redress that balance as it introduces the essentials of law & legal systems in a lively accessible & stimulating manner. Explaining the main concepts terms & processes of the legal system it focuses on the Western tradition (the common law & the civil law) but also
Includes:: discussions of other legal systems such as customary law & Islamic law. & it looks to the future too as globalization & rapid advances in technology place increasing strain on our current legal system.