P. S. Atiyah – författare

The law in a modern society is an extremely bulky and complex instrument, with a distracting tendency to become less fixed, less rule-oriented, and more discretionary. An institution made by men for the government of men, the law today can all too readily confuse and dismay us. How and why is so much new law made? By what right does a judge order that a man be sent to gaol? Why is so much law so bad, and why should we, the people, accept the laws made by those who claim the right to govern us? In this lucid, stimulating and completely updated survey, which presupposes no specialist knowledge of the subject, P S Atiyah introduces the reader to a number of fundamental issues about the law, the legal profession, and the adjudicative process. This new edition gives greater emphasis to the effect of membership of the European Community on English law, and gives an expanded account of the European convention on Human Rights with its subsequent effects on English law. Atiyah also looks at the recent controversy over the independence of the judiciary, problems arising from the cost of legal services and legal aid, and the many appalling miscarriages of justice which have disfigured the legal system in the past decade.

This is a revised edition of the paperback, Essays on Contract which was published by OUP in 1988. With the addition of a further previously unpublished essay, this book can be seen as the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of Professor Atiyah's views on the law and theory of contract. The new essay `Freedom of Contract and the New Right' charts the latest shift in the development of contract law, this time back in the direction of Freedom of Contract. This shift, Professor Atiyah argues, can be traced directly to the growing strength of the `New Right' and its advocacy of political and economic freedom.

Promises, Morals and Law

The impact of freedom of contract in the 19th century extended far beyond the legal arena as an economic slogan and an ethical attitude. Atiyah traces the development and subsequent decline of the freedom of contract, depicting its effects on the law's development and the foundation of contractual obligations, as well as its broader implications for 19th century English life.

This book has a comparatively original theme, or set of themes. It offers, first, a new way of analysing styles of legal reasoning - between more 'formal' and more 'substantive' styles. This analysis, which is worked out in some detail, is a major contribution to jurisprudence in its own right. The book then goes on to demonstrate in detail the differences in legal reasoning - and in the legal systems as a whole - between England and America, suggesting that the English is a much more 'formal' legal system and the American a more 'substantive' one. Thirdly, the book proceeds to explore in detail a wide range of cultural, institutional, and historical factors relating to the two legal systems, an exploration which is not only of value for comparative studies, but also confirms the argument in the first part of the book as to the relative 'formality' of the two legal systems.