Sources of Law, Legal Change, and Ambiguity

Download or read book Sources of Law, Legal Change, and Ambiguity written by Alan Watson and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2016-12-09 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is the law notoriously unclear, arcane, slow to change in the face of changing circumstances? In this sweeping comparative analysis of the lawmaking process from ancient Rome to the present day, Alan Watson argues that the answer has largely to do with the mixed ancestry of modern law, the confusion of sources—custom, legislation, scholarly writing, and judicial precedent—from which it derives.