Law: A Very Short Introduction - Paperback

by Raymond Wacks (Author)

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring

Law is at the heart of every society, protecting rights, imposing duties, and establishing a framework for the conduct of almost all social, political, and economic activity. Despite this, the law often seems a highly technical, perplexing mystery, with its antiquated and often impenetrable jargon, obsolete procedures, and endless stream of judgements and complex legislation.

In this Very Short Introduction Raymond Wacks introduces the major branches of the law, describing what lawyers do, and how courts operate, and considers the philosophy of law and its pursuit of justice, freedom, and equality. Wacks locates the discipline in our contemporary world, considering the pressures of globalization and digitalisation, and the nature of the law in our culture of threatened security and surveillance. In this new edition, the author considers a number of social and political events that have had an impact on the law, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth of social media and surveillance, and the increasing threats to the rule of law.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Author Biography

Raymond Wacks, Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory, University of Hong Kong,

Raymond Wacks is Emeritus Professor of Law and Legal Theory at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of sixteen books which have been translated into a dozen languages. They include Personal Information: Privacy and the Law (1989, OUP); Privacy and Media Freedom (2013, OUP); Privacy: A Very Short Introduction (2015, OUP); and Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction, (2014, OUP). His recent publications include Protecting Personal Information: The Right to Privacy Reconsidered (2020), COVID-19 and Public Policy in the Digital Age (2021), and National Security in the New World Order: Government and the Technology of Information (with Andrea Monti).