This book provides an ideal introduction for anyone wondering whether to study law or those who are simply curious to know more about it. It is not confined to English law, but deals with the Western tradition of law as a whole. It outlines the key problems of constitutional law and the law of property, contracts, treaties, crimes and torts. It also explains the importance of law of forms, procedures, and interpretation and examines how law relates to government, history, and justice. In this way it vividly brings out the intellectual and practical fascination of the subject. The book is easy to read and the chapters are self-contained. Where possible, technical terms are avoided. When unavoidable, they are explained both in the text and in a glossary at the end of the book. The author is a leading lawyer, legal historian, and legal philosopher. During his career in Oxford he taught many hundreds of students and it is from this experience that the book is drawn.

作者簡介：托尼·奧諾裏（Tony Honoré），（1921-2019），英國牛津大學教授。生於倫敦，在南非長大。二戰期間曾服兵役，戰後在牛津大學新學院讀書，之後一直在牛津大學任教。曾於1971至1988年擔任牛津皇傢皇傢民法講座教授，該席位是牛津大學最古老的六個講席之一。研究領域為法理學、民法學和羅馬法，在所有權和因果關係問題上做齣瞭重大理論貢獻，也是英國最傑齣的羅馬法專傢。共齣版13本專著，其中最有影響力的著作是他與哈特閤著的《法律中的因果關係》。

譯者簡介：鄭玉雙，中央財經大學法學院副教授，中國政法大學法學博士。研究領域為法哲學、刑法哲學和政治哲學，在《政法論壇》《法製與社會發展》等法學刊物發錶論文多篇，主譯《閤法性》。