Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T23:17:14.052Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2009

Robert S. Summers
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

“Theory is the most important part of … the law, as the architect is the most important … in the building of a house.”

– O. W. Holmes, Jr.

“[Die Form] … ist im innersten Wesen des Rechts begründet.”

“Form is rooted in the innermost essence of law.”

– Rudolf von Jhering

PRELIMINARY OVERVIEW

Given the unfamiliar nature of this study, an extended preliminary overview is called for. The most fundamental question of law and legal theory is: What is the nature of a legal system? Many leading scholars and theorists of law in the twentieth century, including H. L. A. Hart and Hans Kelsen, viewed a legal system as essentially a system of rules. In developed Western societies, however, a legal system is far more than this. It is made up of diverse functional units only one major variety of which consists of rules. These diverse units are, in turn, duly organized in complex ways to form a system. To grasp the nature of a legal system, it is first necessary to understand the diverse functional units of the system. These include institutions, such as legislatures and courts, legal precepts, such as rules and principles, nonpreceptual species of law, such as contracts and property interests, interpretive and other legal methodologies, sanctions and remedies, and more. A discrete legal unit does not function independently. It must be combined and integrated with other units.

Type
Chapter
Information
Form and Function in a Legal System
A General Study
, pp. 3 - 36
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Introduction
  • Robert S. Summers, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Form and Function in a Legal System
  • Online publication: 29 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511511066.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Robert S. Summers, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Form and Function in a Legal System
  • Online publication: 29 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511511066.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Robert S. Summers, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Form and Function in a Legal System
  • Online publication: 29 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511511066.002
Available formats
×