Form and function in a legal system : a general study / Robert S. Summers. electronic resource

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Introduction -- Basic concepts and definitions -- A general approach -- Forms of institutions : legislative -- Forms of precepts : rules -- Form and content within a rule : continued -- Forms of nonpreceptual law : contracts and related property interests -- Forms of legal methodologies : statutory interpretation -- Forms of sanctions and remedies -- The overall form of a legal system as a whole -- Cumulative and synergistic effects of legal forms : a schematic practical application.

This book addresses three major questions about law and legal systems: (1) What are the defining and organizing forms of legal institutions, legal rules, interpretive methodologies, and other legal phenomena? (2) How does frontal and systematic focus on these forms advance understanding of such phenomena? (3) What credit should the functions of forms have when such phenomena serve policy and related purposes, rule of law values, and fundamental political values such as democracy, liberty, and justice? The answers not only provide articulate conversancy with the subject but also reveal insights into the nature of law itself, as well as allied subjects.