Product Description

English Legal System in Context provides a critical overview of the legal system. It establishes a sound theoretical framework within which to analyse the system and its various intricacies, encouraging students to develop a critical approach to the study of this important topic. The authors provide an insightful contextual analysis of the system and its main protagonists: as well as the traditional core areas of the English legal system such as the courts, case law, legal professionals, and the civil and criminal proceedings, the text discusses the police and their powers, the role of the CPS, private policing, the work of non-police agencies. This edition also contains a new chapter on alternative dispute resolution, designed to broaden the reader's appreciation of this central issue, plus new material on the role of law schools and law students. With a clear, logical structure, and a wealth of references to take the reader further into the subject, this is a perceptive and wide-ranging study that explains and illuminates this fascinating topic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127062 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 442 pages

About the Author
Fiona Cownie is Professor of Law at the University of Keele. She was formerly HK Bevan Professor of Law at the University of Hull. A former Vice-Chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Association, and Past President of the European Law Faculties Association, she is an expert in legal eduction, and is well known for her work in socio-legal studies.

Customer Reviews

Extraordinarily well-written
The book is in my opinion one of the best examples of why English legal literature stands in a class of its own. Its dense syntactical structure befits the dense semantical concepts it attempts to convey. Equally, it presents a persuasive, coherent thesis of the necessity for a pluralistic analysis of the English legal structure.

Good book
This book is good, especially the chapters on the criminal justice system. It is written in a clear, concise and accessible manner without being basic. Recommended for a solid foundation of the English legal system.

Good background but dry
This book provides a good background to the law and therefore might be good for someone who is about to start a law degree / conversion course. It details how the court system works, how the constitution affects the law etc
For anyone who isn't, however, this is fairly tedious stuff.
If you're itching to get started and can't wait for the summer holidays to be over then definitely grab a copy. Otherwise I'd wait till the lectures start.