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The Humanity of Private Law: Part I: Explanation
The Humanity of Private Law presents a new way of thinking about English private law. Making a decisive break from earlier views of private law, which saw private law as concerned with wealth-maximisation or preserving relationships of mutual independence between its subjects, the author argues that English private law's core concern is the flourishing of its subjects.
THIS VOLUME
- presents a critique of alternative explanations of private law;
- defines and sets out the key building blocks of private law;
- sets out the vision of human flourishing (the RP) that English private law has in mind in seeking to promote its subjects' flourishing;
- shows how various features of English private law are fine-tuned to ensure that its subjects enjoy a flourishing existence, according to the vision of human flourishing provided by the RP;
- explains how other features of English private law are designed to preserve private law's legitimacy while it pursues its core concern of promoting human flourishing;
- defends the view of English private law presented here against arguments that it does not adequately fit the rules and doctrines of private law, or that it is implausible to think that English private law is concerned with promoting human flourishing.
A follow-up volume will question whether the RP is correct as an account of what human flourishing involves, and consider what private law would look like if it sought to give effect to a more authentic vision of human flourishing.
The Humanity of Private Law is essential reading for students, academics and judges who are interested in understanding private law in common law jurisdictions, and for anyone interested in the nature and significance of human flourishing.
THIS VOLUME
- presents a critique of alternative explanations of private law;
- defines and sets out the key building blocks of private law;
- sets out the vision of human flourishing (the RP) that English private law has in mind in seeking to promote its subjects' flourishing;
- shows how various features of English private law are fine-tuned to ensure that its subjects enjoy a flourishing existence, according to the vision of human flourishing provided by the RP;
- explains how other features of English private law are designed to preserve private law's legitimacy while it pursues its core concern of promoting human flourishing;
- defends the view of English private law presented here against arguments that it does not adequately fit the rules and doctrines of private law, or that it is implausible to think that English private law is concerned with promoting human flourishing.
A follow-up volume will question whether the RP is correct as an account of what human flourishing involves, and consider what private law would look like if it sought to give effect to a more authentic vision of human flourishing.
The Humanity of Private Law is essential reading for students, academics and judges who are interested in understanding private law in common law jurisdictions, and for anyone interested in the nature and significance of human flourishing.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published December 27, 2018
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October 14, 2021
honestly I have no idea who would voluntarily read this book. it's a tedious read - very theoretical and technical - and McBride didnt seem to be taking it in any direction. having covered a third of it I believe I've given it a fair enough chance to see some development but McBride was more concerned w covering an array of legal theories than sustaining the reader's attention. so he lost me.
I think my biggest issue with the book was that it hardly dealt with the humane aspect of law, contrary to its title. legal issues were discussed in silos and explored on a purely theoretical level (e.g. you don't have the right to hypothetically steal my newspaper) with little real world implications, which kind of trivialised the discussion altogether. morality, which I thought to be the first thing that comes to mind when you see "law" and "humanity" was hardly touched on, and when it was, it was done so in the most sterile and unfeeling way.
however mcbride is rigorous and reading the book is a very exacting intellectual exercise. he goes into all the nitty gritty - the ifs and buts of every theory which some may appreciate from an academic viewpoint. at some points even I was intrigued, especially in his exploration of the relationship between rights, duties and liabilities where he questioned some fundamental assumptions about them. most of the time however I felt like I was ploughing through, trying to grasp each theory in order to move on to the next section holding a faint hope that he might be getting somewhere with all of this.
a relatively minor issue, but one that really irked me, was the way he used case studies. initially he took greater care to ensure that readers would understand the legal contention, but after a while he grew lazier and simply name dropped them without any reference or footnote. I had to scroll back several times to see if it was a case he had explained before or a new one, which I then had to research more about to understand his argument. maybe this book was targeted for law students who are presumed to be familiar with such cases, nonetheless case studies are essential for understanding the application of the theory and McBride should at least include a brief overview.
I think my biggest issue with the book was that it hardly dealt with the humane aspect of law, contrary to its title. legal issues were discussed in silos and explored on a purely theoretical level (e.g. you don't have the right to hypothetically steal my newspaper) with little real world implications, which kind of trivialised the discussion altogether. morality, which I thought to be the first thing that comes to mind when you see "law" and "humanity" was hardly touched on, and when it was, it was done so in the most sterile and unfeeling way.
however mcbride is rigorous and reading the book is a very exacting intellectual exercise. he goes into all the nitty gritty - the ifs and buts of every theory which some may appreciate from an academic viewpoint. at some points even I was intrigued, especially in his exploration of the relationship between rights, duties and liabilities where he questioned some fundamental assumptions about them. most of the time however I felt like I was ploughing through, trying to grasp each theory in order to move on to the next section holding a faint hope that he might be getting somewhere with all of this.
a relatively minor issue, but one that really irked me, was the way he used case studies. initially he took greater care to ensure that readers would understand the legal contention, but after a while he grew lazier and simply name dropped them without any reference or footnote. I had to scroll back several times to see if it was a case he had explained before or a new one, which I then had to research more about to understand his argument. maybe this book was targeted for law students who are presumed to be familiar with such cases, nonetheless case studies are essential for understanding the application of the theory and McBride should at least include a brief overview.
Displaying 1 of 1 review