The Rule of Laws

‘Fascinating, insightful and gripping, The Rule of Laws provides a comprehensive exploration of the history underpinning our modern legal systems. A triumph’ - The Secret Barrister

‘An ambitious account of the rise and fall of the world’s great legal systems … richly informative and consistently thought-provoking .. Fernanda Pirie’s work will command, and deserve, a wide readership’ - Jonathan Sumption

‘Exceptionally rich’ - Andrew Stark

‘The Rule of Laws offers a pathbreaking and stimulating account of how societies across different regions and epochs drew upon secular, sacred, and scholarly traditions to create laws that organized the lives of their citizens … This expansive narrative challenges what we think we know about legal history and the assumptions we make about law’s future’ - Edward J. Watts, author

‘The Rule of Laws is a fascinating, comprehensive study that forces us to think again about what law is, and why it matters … For those who want to understand why human society has emerged as it has, this is essential reading’ - Rana Mitter, author

Fernanda Pirie is professor of the anthropology of law at the University of Oxford. She is the author of The Anthropology of Law and has conducted fieldwork in the mountains of Ladakh and the grasslands of eastern Tibet. She previously spent almost a decade practising as a barrister.

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