About Law: An Introduction

by Tony Honoré

Here is a simple introduction to the intellectual challenges presented by law in the western secular tradition, written by one of Britain's most revered and eminent scholars of law. The text discusses branches of the law such as contracts, property, torts, criminal law and interpretation. It
also covers the moral and historical aspects of law, such as justice, obedience, and the differences between civil and common law systems.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Legal

118 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 1996

Reviews

[Will]

About Law is a broad but concise primer on the workings and history of the western tradition of law as a whole without focusing on any system specifically.

I wanted a text on law that was written specifically for a complete beginner and this book was a perfect introduction that paints a picture of law in broad strokes to create a coherent whole.

If you are interested in reading about why and how laws are formed, interpreted and enforced, there is a lot of information packed into ~100 pages and the writing can easily be understood even without a background in law.

[Jeremarizkysiagmail.Com]

VERY NICE

[Samuel Luther]

indeed a very simple and brief introduction on the main facets and concerns of law. this probably should have been my very first law related book (alas, it is not), but i’m still glad to have read this as it’ll help frame my thinking for the rest of the law related books i’ll encounter in the future.

one of the biggest charms of this book is the use of simple language and simple examples to illustrate the concepts which can still be encoded in legal jargon (as there is just no way to avoid these terms). honore does a great job with the examples.

[Anon]

Solid. Interesting on purposive v. textual approaches to interpretation & purpose of law to encourage certain behaviours rather than just punish/facilitate

[Ross Fothergill]

I was looking for a book that explains the purpose of the law and it’s attendant philosophy from a high level overview. This is it. Mostly it covers the law in democratic countries, and it does go into some discussion as to how the law is meant to not just enforce the law for the purpose of the collective, that is the state, but also to some degree contrasts that with individual rights and protection against state abuse. The only short coming (in my view) is that the book is short on explaining how occasionally the law is abused and used as a tool by some state actors around the world who to impose autocratic power.

[Jeremy Kong]

The book does deliver on its description as an introduction; it's a pretty solid read, and seemed to cover a fair number of issues at a high level. As someone with little familiarity with law, I learned some interesting points (e.g. having lived primarily in countries with common law systems, I didn't know that civil law was a thing; also, the difference between crimes and torts and the considerations for evidence/burden of proof).

The reason for just 3 stars, though: given the price I'd have liked a bit more content/depth, perhaps with some examples or suggested points for further reading. It's a solid introduction, but appears to really be an introduction.

[Yilmaz Aksoy]

Oldukça kısa bir giriş kitabı. Hiç derinlere girmiyor. Kısa, basit örneklerle zorlukları, problemli yerleri ve yapılan tercihleri anlatıyor. Hukuk alanında hukuk diliyle yazılmamış birkitap okumak güzeldi. Bilmediğim bir şey öğrendim mi? Felsefi açıdan yeni bir şey öğrenmedim ama kavramlar konusunda güzel bir giriş oldu. Eğer bu konuda devam etmeyi düşünürsem faydalı olacağına inanıyorum.

[Chris Sheridan]

This book was exactly what I was looking for as a primer to legal studies. It takes a shallow look at broad categories of law, how it is applied and why it matters. The book is short and very readable to the legal novice. This would be an excellent book for anyone wanting a better understanding of the legal system, how it operates and why.

[Yato Hajime]

An accessible, easy to understand, and short book that is filled with the capacity to teach an absolute beginner what law is about. Seems like it fulfils the promise of being an introduction if you ask me. 5 stars

[Matthew]

Concise introduction to law. Some of the language can be a bit clunky at times, but otherwise perfect even if I disagree with some of the author's opinions and believe that he is less apt when discussing political matters.

[John]

Fantastic it help law students

[Zahra]

It was a simple breakdown into the foundations and key principles in law, great for a beginner in the subject or pre-uni prep.

[Kusum]

thin, short book yet overpriced than other law introductory books in my opinion (£24.99) but the points are explained nicely with good examples & not too complex to read, a nice introductory book!

[Ify]

I love this book every informtative.

[ame]

feel like i cant rate this because it’s basically a surface level textbook but it was very useful and comprehensive. i love stuff being explained to me like i’m 8 or i cant understand it 😜😜

[Shashvat Shukla]

A good short book (108 pages) introducing legal systems for non-lawyers. It talks about western legal systems in general, their history, their motivation and the most important concepts in law.

[Freya Lund]

Quite a good brief overview of law although a little dated

[Ruqayyah Iqbal]

Good

[James]

This was a disappointment. For something billed as a introduction to the ideas and difficulties of law in Western countries it was rarely informative. I don't know much about Tony Honoré, but given how well regarded he is, I hope that this was only a misguided attempt at appealing to the lowest common denominator.

The phrasing was often difficult to parse and the formatting of the chapters was distracting: some paragraphs got titles, some got bold titles, and these titles might be thematically related to the following pages, or not.

It dealt exclusively in hypotheticals, and for a survey of law, was too preachy in describing how things ``should'' be (that word appeared too often for my liking).

Honoré's description of the pros and cons of the two basic types of Western constitutions and two basic types of legal processes was valuable to me, though not generally relevant to problems brought up in later chapters.

[Salli LaBelle]

Great and easy read on law. Reckon half the challenge was to describe the arguments in simple terms so that anyone interested would understand the concepts and opinions discussed. Surprised at how others are giving this book a lower rating when it is a brilliantly clear and comprehensive introduction to Law and everything that it entails within the bigger picture.

Enjoyed, very much so.

[Hanim]

it is great !

[Cara]

Destroyed my soul and very boring but can’t lie on my personal statement