Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part one -- 1. Law and society -- Analysing law -- Authority and obedience to law -- Law and society -- Industrialisation and the role of law -- Law and society: consensus or conflict? -- 2. Law and morality -- Social definition of law and morality -- Morality and the law -- 'Crimes without victims' -- Censorship -- Legislation of morality: reflections on the reformism of the 1960s -- 3. Law and the regulation of economic activity -- Form of the business enterprise -- Changing functions of state and law -- Summary -- 4. Some important legal concepts -- Rights and duties: problems of analysing legal concepts -- Legal personality -- Property and the law -- Social and economic functions of private property -- Law of property -- 5. Law and the settlement of disputes -- Prevention and settlement of disputes in modern society -- Business disputes: avoidance and arbitration -- Growth of tribunals -- Some recent developments -- English courts: the constitutional position -- English court structure -- Courts and society -- 6. Making of legal rules -- Parliamentary legislation: politics, pressures and public policy -- Precedent and policy I: the common law -- Equity and the common law -- Precedent and policy II: statutory interpretation -- 7. Legal profession -- Divided profession and its work -- Social composition of the legal profession -- Cost of legal services I: the rise and fall of legal aid -- Recent changes to civil litigation and legal aid reforms -- Cost of legal services II: the present situation -- Conclusion -- Part two -- 8. European dimension of English law -- Structure of the treaties: the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union -- Principal institutions of the European Union -- EU law and the principle of direct effect -- EU law: an overview -- Liability in English law: the law of tort -- Tort and capitalism -- Liability in tort -- Liability in negligence in cases involving the police and emergency services -- Negligent acts or omissions causing economic loss -- Negligent statements causing economic loss -- Negligent acts or omissions causing psychiatric illness -- Summary -- Liability for defective products -- Vicarious liability and the role of insurance -- Remedies in the law of tort -- 10. Liability in English law: crime and the criminal justice system -- Liability in criminal law -- 'Intention' -- 'Recklessness' -- Strict liability -- Defences -- criminal justice system -- Criminology and the criminal justice system -- 11. Development and role of the contract -- Contract and the consumer: the exclusion clause problem -- Legislative intervention: the solution to the consumer problem? -- Consumer protection legislation: some examples -- Is the consumer now adequately protected through legislation? -- Contract and business: the positive role of the contract -- 12. Law and government -- Remedies in administrative law -- Role of law in the administrative process -- Judges: appointment and training -- Judges, politics and the process of decision-making -- Grounds for judicial intervention in administrative activity.