Evolution and the Common Law

Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-0-521-84968-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 302 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 549 g

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 shows that law is a rhetorical activity that can only be properly appreciated in its historical and political context; tradition and transformation are locked in a mutually reinforcing but thoroughly contingent embrace. In contrast to the dewy-eyed offerings of much contemporary work, it demonstrates that, like life, law is an organic process (i.e., events are the products of functional and localized causes) rather than a miraculous one (i.e., events are the result of some grand plan or intervention). In short, common law is a perpetual work-in-progress - evanescent, dynamic, messy, productive, tantalising, and bottom-up.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hutchinson, Allan C.

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsgeschichte, Recht der Antike
• Rechtswissenschaften Ausländisches Recht Common Law (UK, USA, Australien u.a.)
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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.

Über Autor(innen)

Hutchinson, Allan C.
Allan C. Hutchinson is professor and Associate Dean at Osgoode Hall Law School in York University. He has published on a variety of subjects including civil litigation, constitutional law, torts, jurisprudence, evidence, legal profession, and legal ethics. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and awarded Osgoode Hall's inaugural Excellence in Teaching Award.