Law: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #180

by Raymond Wacks

Very Short Introductions : Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring

Law is at the heart of every society, protecting rights, imposing duties, and establishing a framework for the conduct of almost all social, political, and economic activity. Despite this, the law often seems a highly technical, perplexing mystery, with its antiquated and often impenetrable jargon, obsolete procedures, and endless stream of judgements and complex legislation.

In this Very Short Introduction Raymond Wacks introduces the major branches of the law, describing what lawyers do, and how courts operate, and considers the philosophy of law and its pursuit of justice, freedom, and equality. Wacks locates the discipline in our contemporary world, considering the pressures of globalization and digitalisation, and the nature of the law in our culture of threatened security and surveillance. In this new edition, the author considers a number of social and political events that have had an impact on the law, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth of social media and surveillance, and the increasing threats to the rule of law.


ABOUT THE The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy, Reference, Ebooks, Education

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2008

About the author

Raymond Wacks is Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory at the University of Hong Kong, where he was Head of the Department of Law from 1986 to 1993. He was previously Professor of Public Law and Head of the Department of Public Law at the University of Natal in Durban. He has lived in Italy since taking early retirement in 2002.

Reviews

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon learning that I have read this book, a friend of mine (who happened to be a law student) remarked that "there is no such thing as a very short introduction to law." She was referring of course to the voluminous cases and laws that all law students are supposed to study and even memorize in many instances. This is a daunting process that requires many hours and hard work, and on a surface it would seem inconceivable that it could be condensed into a very short book that does justice to it. In the light of that, it is quite remarkable that something like this has been accomplished in the form of this book. The important thing to keep in mind is that the subject of this book is law in general, and not any particular instances of it that are dealt with here. Raymond Wacks does a remarkable job narrating the story of law: its origins, history, different legal systems that exist in the world, and the future of law. The two major legal traditions in the world - the common and civil law - are described and explained at some detail. Even so, there are many jurisdictions around the world that mix elements from both traditions, and within each tradition there are many subcategories and peculiar practices. Thus, US legal system in particular, although it belongs to the common law tradition, has many characteristics that are at odds with the rest of the common law universe. The visually most conspicuous one is the lack of any special attire that is required of lawyers at trials. Even the very profession of a lawyer is somewhat particular to the US, and does not quite exist in other jurisdictions.

Overall, this is a very readable and informative book that does not require much preexisting knowledge of the law, and it does not overwhelm the reader with the legal language. It is an excellent introduction to a very important aspect of the way that the world operates.

[Makan Tayebi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A british lawyer that has worked abroad in Hong Kong and South Africa, has gained a rare perspective on 'how it all works'. While it's a short book, it makes every page count. As a speaker of English as a second language, I'd have to admit i had to open a dictionary from time to time to understand every single sentence, but overall I liked the sophistication, and it did not become overwhelming.

What is law, and what it is achieving, systems of law in different countries, origins of law in different parts of the world, law and morality, and what justice is, were some of the topics that I appreciated in this book. It is fascinating to get a glimpse of what antique philosophies still dominate the frame of a legal systems today. I did not know much about law in advance, and to similiar audience i totally recommend this book.

[Jonathan Tlalim · Rating 3 out of 5]

These short introduction books always slightly dissapoint, interesting tho

[gigi (literally futaba yoshioka)]

wdym im in university now

[Matthew White · Rating 5 out of 5]

For what this is and the scope it's intended to cover this is honestly near-perfect in its selection of words and prose and the way it speaks to the layman. People are connected to (i) intrinsically interesting subjects and (ii) ultimately; stories - and this text knows this... reaching a balance leaning on the former with occasional slant towards the latter - as any academic lecturer will ascribe.

[KingSolomon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid primer on law. Occasionally the syntax was awkward, and despite being published by Oxford, there were many editorial oversights. Seems to have been translated and/or written by someone with knowledge of English by way of second-language. Other than that, contained a plethora of valuable information, even contrasting American law with other countries’ law, and through it all maintaining a fair state of non-bias.

4.2 stars.

[Manvendra Shekhawat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent introduction to law. Though i feel that you might require some prior knowledge about a few concepts of law. But it doesn’t get too complicated. This book explains the concept of morality, different types of laws & courts in a rather easy to understand manner.
Although it is a bit America centric it takes India and other European countries into account as well.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just passed my bar exam using this short volume, highly recommend.

[Emil O. W. Kirkegaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly woke, but interesting.

[Isabelle]

Yes i’m adding my required reading for uni coz i need to reach my goodreads goal (i’m delusional i know)

[lis]

მაგარია სამართალი

[mariam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine.


It was informative for sure, and far more interesting than most books that want to introduce people to law, but good grief was he trying to abuse his thesaurus.

Honestly, the introduction paragraph is one of the most disastrous ones I’ve ever read. How can a man claim to want to provide a simple introduction to law in the most godawful complicated language possible? Absolute joke.

It was fine for me as I had to study Wacks for my philosophy of law module so i’m already used to his gobby ways but honestly…

Regardless of the horrific start, the rest of the book was quite good. I particularly liked the morals bit

[Kathleen O'Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raymond Wacks's "Law: A Very Short Introduction" is a book that is at its best when the author is explaining the history and diversity of law as well as some of the most important arguments of a few well known legal philosophers. The first chapter in particular, in which Wacks traces a brief history of various legal systems, is the best in book. The second chapter, in which Wacks delineates a few of the major branches of law is also very worthwhile. The chapters on "Courts" and "Lawyers" are competent but not spectacular - nonetheless they fulfill their promise to the reader by providing a working knowledge of the role of legal officials in various legal systems. The book's third chapter entitled "Law and Morality" is hit and miss - Wacks is at his best when summarizing major debates in contemporary legal theory by important legal philosophers and at his worst when he attempts to grapple with the complexities of abortion, sexual freedom, and euthanasia in a short volume of this nature. The last chapter of the book "The Future of Law" is by far the weakest chapter of the book due to its highly speculative generalizations about the directions that law may take in the future. It would have been preferable to me had the author devoted these pages instead to a more in depth exposition of some of the concepts dealt with in earlier chapters (such as debates among legal philosophers about the ideal relationship of morality to law). This book's greatest strength and greatest weakness is that it attempts to survey a variety of diverse legal systems from around the world. While it will give the general reader useful and interesting nuggets of information about a variety of legal systems, it does not go into enough depth about any particular legal system to give one a clear set of impressions about it.

[Friendly Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from a handful of books, most of my reviews discuss and comment on non-fiction novels. I struggled to rate this book particularly because my other ratings are juxtaposed on the style of books I have previously read, and this one doesn’t fall into any of those categories.

Thus, I have graded it solely on the quality of the writing and the information that is provided to me. I picked this book up because law has always been a subject that has intrigued me, and a part of me will always contemplate going into law school. I just wanted a real overview of law as a subject to see if any particular aspect of it I found especially interesting. I didn’t want to get a law school book particularly because I worried it would overwhelm me with information. So I chose this one.

This book was an absolute pleasure to read, yet it remained informative. It’s structured very nicely, making it really easy to follow. Starting with a general overview with the law’s roots, then diving into the branches, the question of morality and finishing off with the courts, lawyers and the future of law. There are several brief case studies from different centuries which is really neat -from carbonic smoke balls to McDonalds.

There were some really neat things that I have never been aware of before. Particularly that “a company is a legal person with the capacity to enter into contracts, sue and be sued” (66). Also, judges in Hong Kong wear wigs to respect the common law tradition in the UK!

Check out my other reviews: http://friendlybookworm.wordpress.com/

[Jacob Lines · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short introduction into how law works in the world. The author has practiced law in several different systems, so he gives very understandable and helpful comparisons of different systems. He describes how law addresses crime, private wrongs, contract disputes, and other common conflicts. He also explains how the major systems developed. The legal profession and legal education have their own sections. He ends with a very good discussion of human rights and the future of law, including how law is attempting to deal with new technologies and globalization. I really enjoyed the book. It covered a lot of ground and kept it interesting throughout. Recommended especially for laypeople or new law students.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sadly lives up to the last name of its author, because it was pretty whack, to use that old slang expression.  The main issue with this book is not that it is short, because inevitably a book that is very short contains oversimplification, which is something to be expected, but rather that the book is extremely biased and fails to account for a great deal of what makes law worthwhile and legitimate.  On the one hand, the author recognizes that the politicized nature of law and the rise of administrative law have gravely threatened freedom in many countries, but the author has quite a few worldview commitments that prevent him from writing a worthwhile account of the law and why it is that we should respect it.  It is one thing to say that the law is required for any sort of social order to exist, but it is quite another to discuss the grounds on which the legitimacy of law operates and how it is that corrupt legal orders can be changed.  The author is even biased on what legal orders are to be considered hopelessly corrupt and evil, including some evils while not including others.

This short book consists of just over 150 pocket-sized pages of material, but it is a sad waste of even its small amount of paper.  After a preface and list of illustrations, the author divides most of his material into six parts.  The first part of the book discusses the roots of law, looking at law in history (although, strangely, not the canon law of the Middle Ages or the corpus of biblical law), mostly focuses on civil and common law and its development.  After that the author discusses the branches of law, namely into criminal and civil law.  Then the author discusses the relationship of law and morality, clubbing apartheid and antebellum proslavery law but not being open-handed about other immoral legal orders.  The author then moves on to a discussion of courts and how they differ in various areas based on the presence or absence of juries as well as the specific nature of the legal system.  After this, the author unsuccessfully attempts to justify lawyers and their importance in legal systems before closing with a chapter on the future of the law where the author speculates on matters of technology and privacy.  There are also references, legal sources, cases discussed, and suggestions for future reading as well as an index.

There are really two essential areas where this book miserably fails.  For one, the author appears to have a secular mindset that blinds him to the importance of religious law and the reality that the legitimacy of legal systems within humanity depend on the recognition of duties of obedience of mankind to God's laws.  The author nowhere appears to recognize this spiritual aspect of reality.  Likewise, the author's biases are painfully obvious.  Over and over again the author condemns apartheid in South Africa and proslavery laws in the Antebellum South (and in the Jim Crow system afterward) and Nazi Germany, but nowhere is there a condemnation of the illegitimacy of socialist law as seen in the gulag and laogai archipelagos, or the illegitimacy of land seizure in postcolonial Africa and other places.  Likewise, the author condemns the Dred Scott and Plessy vs. Furgeson decisions but appears to view Roe vs. Wade as merely controversial and not evil.  The biases of this author make it impossible to view his position of law as legitimate or take what he has to say about rights and legitimacy seriously.  If you want an introduction to law and its importance, it would be difficult to pick a worse book to learn from than this one.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The legal scholar Raymond Wacks wrote a book entitled Law: A Very Short Introduction. I read the edition that was published in 2023. The book has a section of references, an index, and an index. The book has a section entitled “further reading” (Wacks 161-170). The book has illustrations. The book has a section entitled “Legal Sources: A Very Short Explanation” (Wacks 157-158). I thought the “legal sources” section was beneficial (Wacks 157-158). His chapters on courts and lawyers worldwide were interesting (Wacks 92-112). Wacks’ books contain a good definition of the civil legal system and common legal system (Wacks 10-14). The book has a chapter on the future of law (Wacks 123-152). This chapter covers different topics in the future of the field of law. This section was updated from previous editions of the book. The book has a section on the “cases discussed” (Wacks 159-160). Raymond Wacks believes the Philosophy of Law should be read in his book Law: A Very Short Introduction (Wacks xx). Wacks believes his book on the philosophy of law will answer questions raised in his introduction to law (Wacks xx). I found Wacks’ book to be a well-done introduction to the field of law.
Works Cited:
Wacks, Raymond. 2014. Philosophy of Law. New York: Oxford University Press. Kindle.

[Dom Hargreaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

For certain sections of this book, i loved it. It was written concisely and nicely, with each section flowing into the next and all adding something overall. Others, though, brought this book down for me. They dragged, with complicated language, with odd explanations of legal situation. The author would explain an idea, but then just move on, almost like there was no point in learning that idea at all because it went nowhere. There were other points were ideas were used to compare to each other but then were never actually defined so it was a little confusing. For an “introduction” i feel this book didn’t really hit the mark, more of a refresher for areas learned legal students. Despite that though, the sections that were good were great and overall, this was an okay book

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For what it is, Law: A Very Short Introduction is a very good -scoping- approach to learning about law. Unfortunately, I cannot say I found Wacks' writing particularly enticing, nor was the book's content deep enough to really engage me beyond a certain point. Of course this is expected as the book's title suggests, so if you really feel like you have absolutely no knowledge of the law I say go for it - if you do, I would try another book.

It should also be mentioned that Wacks constantly repeats himself (I am convinced he copy-pasted whole portions of the his own text). This really takes a lot away from the reading experience.

[Bookish Hedgehog · Rating 2 out of 5]

Will definitely not suggest this one.

Verbose and directionless writing, with poorly chosen excerpts. It’s hard to ignore the meandering style, with any random topic thrown every now and then.

But most subject experts are not professional writers. Less forgivable, however, is the amount of empty talk and boring examples the author uses.

It’s almost like a half-hearted attempt at explaining things to presumably a very, very dull audience. If you’re new to the VSI series, please try Boden’s brilliant writing on Artificial Intelligence. The VSI issues on Anxiety and Feminism are good too.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very, very basic introduction to law. I read through it, somehow always expecting it to go further than what I already knew. I don't think I learned anything about the American law system—in fact, parts of the book, especially on criminal law and on race, are actively misleading. What I did learn was about other justice systems, e.g., British law and civil law systems. Differences in contract law, in the legal professions, in judicial review were all new to me; and perhaps I picked up enough little factoids to make the book worth while.

[Pipat Tanmontong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Law หนังสืออีกเล่มในชุด Very Short Introductions
โดยส่วนตัว หนังสือในชุดVSI นี่อ่านยากทุกเล่ม เล่มนี้ก้อำม่ใช่ข้อยกเว้น
คือการต้องสรุปเรื่องสำคัญๆ ของอะไรที่สำคัญมากๆมาเป็นหนังสือเล่มบางนี่มันยากไปทั้งตาอผู้เขียนและผู้อ่านนั่นล่ะ
หนังสือเล่มนี้ให้ความรู้ในภาพรวมของ”กฎหมาย”ได้ครบถ้วน ดูมีหลักให้ยึดจับ ทำความเข้าใจกฎหมายที่เป็นสากล แต่ความกระชับของเนื้อหาทำให้เจ้าใจยากสำหรับคนที่ไม่มีพื้นฐาน
จะใช้เป็นหนังสืออ่านเล่นก้อยากไปนิด ใช้อ้างอิงในฐานะแบบเรียนก้อยังมีหลายๆจุดที่เราว่าผู้เขียนใส่ไว้หลวมๆไปหน่อย

[Rohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like these "Very Short Introductions" for two reasons.
1. They are short enough to read in a sitting or two, so can add to my goodreads list quickly (although perhaps that's cheating!)

2. They actually give a pretty good summary of whatever topic they are on.
I learnt what Torts are (when you have been slighted somehow) and the difference between common law (based mostly on precedents) and civil law (based mostly on codified rules).

3 stars because at times the writing was a bit verbose. And the second half seemed to drag on a bit.

[sube · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does what it does, it gives a very short introduction to law, specifically common law and civil law (though discusses in the beginning other types of law structures too). He then discusses the different branches of law, the question of morality and law, courts, lawyers and at the end the future of law. The first half I found quite strong, and liked it a lot - i didn't get as much out of the second half, was a bit vague sometimes, and really didn't get much meaningful information out of the last chapter, on the future of law. Nonetheless, it achieved its goal ok.

[Harrison Gorst · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good, very sorry introduction to the law. This book also managed to include systems from around Europe and the gone which provides great context and comparison to the legal system of England and Wales.
Written in an understandable lexicon which makes it accessible to someone like me who wishes to study law yet has no prior knowledge of key terms.
Overall a very good introduction for a potential law student such as myself.

[Aaron Leung · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really an eye-opener as it offers an extensive grasp of laws. You may think the context might be quite difficult to understand as it is about law. And so did I. However, what surprised me is that Raymond did a good job in explaining different should-be-abstract concepts in the easiest way so that the readers won’t feel confused. It is probably the best book for any reader who wishes to get a brief yet precise picture of laws as a beginner.

[Seth Benzell · Rating 2 out of 5]

admittedly hard to target the level of material for a book like this, but it was superficial on issues I was more interested in. where it had takes on areas i know about (like the empirical side of deterrence) it offered a lot of sympathy to a fringe theory that deterrence didn't exist. lots of vapid platitudes like "positive and negative rights are equally important" when it should be reaching for a more useful conclusion.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's peculiar in the choice of what is written about - a large section on internet and privacy law that seems somewhat dated now, whereas little is written about things like family law. I like the structure of contrasting common and civil law throughout, it helped me get a better grasp on the two types. I think the book would have helped with being short rather than very short, the author is never bad, it just feels somewhat rushed.

I read the 2nd edition.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up due to having absolutely no prior knowledge of law and found it a fairly difficult read. I appreciate that this is a hard topic to bring down to laymen’s terms, but I did find myself having to cross-reference fairly often. It does a good job of condensing everything and I understood most of it, but it perhaps doesn’t suit someone who has no experience of the topic at all.

[Xu Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The law is, of course, in a constant state of flux. As American Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo expressed: "Existing rules and principles can give us our present location, our bearings, our latitude and longitude. The inn that shelters us for the night is not the journey's end. The law, like the traveller, must be ready for the morrow. It must have a principle of growth."