This book identifies the problems with viewing law as a means to an end.

Brian Z. Tamanaha is the Chief Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo Professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law. He delivered the inaugural Montesquieu Lecture (2004) at the University of Tilburg. He is the author of On the Rule of Law (Cambridge, 2004), Realistic Socio-Legal Theory (1997), and A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society (2001) which won the Herbert Jacob Book Prize in 2001. He has published many articles and is the Associate Editor of Law and Society Review.

Introduction; Part I. The Spread of Legal Instrumentalism: 1. Non-instrumental views of law; 2. Changing society and common law in the nineteenth century; 3. Nineteenth century legislation and legal profession; 4. Instrumentalism of the legal realists; 5. Twentieth century Supreme Court instrumentalism; Part II. Contemporary Legal Instrumentalism: 6. Instrumentalism in legal academia in the 1970s; 7. Instrumentalism in theories of law; 8. Instrumentalism in the legal profession; 9. Instrumentalism of cause litigation; 10. Instrumentalism and the judiciary; 11. Instrumentalism in legislation and administration; Part III. Corroding the Rule of Law: 12. Collapse of higher law, deterioration of common good; 13. The threat to legality; Epilogue.