Judges, Legislators and Professors

Part I. The Common Law is Different: Ten Illustrations: 1. The ambiguity of the term 'law'; 2. Appeal: a recent development; 3. English law is a 'seamless web'; 4. The rule of exclusion; 5. A land without a constitution?; 6. The consequences of parliamentary absolutism; 7. The haphazard development of criminal law; 8. Prosecution and verdict in criminal trials; 9. A law uncodified; Jurists are dispensable; Part II. The Mastery of the Law: Judges, Legislators and Professors: 10. Some facts; 11. Explanations: the 'national spirit'?; 12. Explanations: authoritarian Roman law and democratic England?; 13. Explanations: political history; Part III. The Divergent Paths of Common Law and Civil Law: 14. Common law and civil law: the parting of the ways; 15. The ways remain separate; 16. Which diverged from which?; Part VI. Which is Best, Case Law, Statute Law, Or Book Law: 17. The judges: amateurs and professionals; 18. The courts and their creators; 19. Codification: a weapon against the judiciary; 20. Law professors serve the powers that be; 21. Eight criteria of good law.