Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Tapestry of the Law

Scotland, Legal Culture and Legal Theory

  • Book
  • © 1997

Overview

Authors:
  1. Elspeth Attwooll

    1. University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Law and Philosophy Library (LAPS, volume 26)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Some Puzzles about the Nature of Law

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 1-16

  3. Connecting Law and Society

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 17-37

  4. A Constitutional Culture

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 39-59

  5. The Style of Scots Law

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 61-81

  6. The Style of Scots Law Continued

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 83-100

  7. And so to Ideology

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 101-122

  8. Matters of Interpretation

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 123-142

  9. Law in Whose Terms?

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 143-162

  10. And What Kind of System?

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 163-181

  11. The Language of the Law

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 183-202

  12. Some Different Critiques

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 203-219

  13. The Role of Reason

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 221-240

  14. Weaving the Threads

    • Elspeth Attwooll
    Pages 241-250

  15. Back Matter

    Pages 251-258
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Although its concern is jurisprudence, The Tapestry of the Law is intended to offer neither an original theory of or about law nor an account of other people's theories in textbook form. It is, rather, an attempt to approach the subject without following either of these conventions. The reasons are as follows. Those engaged in legal theory are prone to assert that one cannot properly understand the law unless one takes a jurisprudential approach - preferably their own - to it. Equally, those engaged in exposition of the law may counter that legal theory fails to pay adequate attention to actual law. There is at least some truth in these claims. Analyses, courses and textbooks on both sides do often seem to be produced without reference to the other. Yet such isolation is probably more apparent than real. Most, if not all, so-called "black letter" lawyers do operate on the basis of certain jurisprudential understandings, even if these are not articulated ones. In the frequently quoted words ofF C S Northrop: There are lawyers, judges and even law professors who tell us they have no legal philosophy.

Reviews

` ... a comprehensive survey of trends in twentieth-century jurisprudence ... The Tapestry of Law is clearly intended for a general audience, and on that level it deserves great success. This is an ideal book to offer to anyone curious about the current concerns of English-speaking philosophers of law. Overall, however, the risks Attwooll has taken by writing this sort of book have been fairly taken, and the result is an enjoyable read with plenty of substance.'
Philosophy in Review/Comptes rendus philosophiques (1998)

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK

    Elspeth Attwooll

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation