This book takes a critical look at some of the underlying assumptions which shape our current understanding of the role and purpose of law and society. Arguing that the relationship between law and society must be reconceived in a different way in the era of economics, sociology and statistics, Murphy contends that the traditional vision of the role of law, rooted in a complex set of hierarchical assumptions, is no longer adequate.

• Preface


• 1: The Measure of the Law: Society, Government and Law


• 2: Legal Visions of Law and Society: the Penetrative Scheme and Classical Social Theory


• 3: The Rise and Fall of Adjudicative Government: Its Nature, Evolution and Consequences


• 4: Adjudicative Government and Social Science


• 5: Beyond Hierarchy? System and Lifeworld, Unity and Fragmentation of the Idea of Law


• 6: Conclusion: Modern Law and Modern Society