The book provides a critical analysis of the meaning and role of obligations in law by setting them in their social, political, and economic contexts.

Scott Veitch is Paul KC Chung Professor in Jurisprudence at the University of Hong Kong.

1. The Priority of Obligations: Introductory Observations. 2. The Place of Obligations: Modern Antecedents. 3. Shifting Priorities: Into the Modern. 4. The Ecology of Obligations: Situating the Legal Bond. 5. Hybrids in Action: Three Contemporary Legal Formations. 6. Obligations, Needs, Solidarities: Old and New Trajectories.