Readership: Advanced students; academic and practising lawyers, and members of the judiciary, interested in the law of torts and in the comparative law of obligations.
David Ibbetson, Lecturer in Law at Oxford University
"... provides a fresh look at many more subjects than most legal historians can have mastered. ... this book will cause readers to rethink their reaction to some present-day legal problems in light of the past. ... [Ibbetson] has given us both a basic treatment of the law of obligations and a considerable number of fresh insights that will enlighten any teacher's understanding and presentation of the subject." - Legal History (no date)
"Dr Ibbetson has achieved something of a tour de force ... lucid and scholarly historical treatment ... easy to read and attractively presented ... much more than a simple chronological account of the evolution of legal doctrine ..." - Law Quarterly Review April 2001
"masterly review of the substantive law of tort in the Middle Ages ... Compendious though it is, the book is not long, and this is all the more remarkable in that the style is not at all dense, but easy and flowing. The text is replete with well-chosen examples, and the footnotes are informative and stimulating. ... As pleasurable as it is informative, as balanced as it is intelligent, this volume is an invaluable addition to a distinguished literature." - Modern Law Review March 2001
Review(s) from previous edition"A Historical Introduction to the Law of Obligations is a remarkable book which every lawyer with any interest in the law of obligations should read. - Peter Cane
Prologue: The Prehistory of the English Law of Obligations I Form and Substance in Medieveal Law 1: Structural Foundations 2: Unity and Fragmentation of the Mediaeval Law of Contract 3: Trespass, Trespass on the Case, and the Mediaeval Law of Tort 4: The Substantive Law of Torts 5: The Substantive Law of Contract 2 The Triumph of Trespass on the Case 6: Tort, Property, and Reputation: the Expansion of the Action on the Case 7: The Rise of the Action of Assumpsit 3 The Modern Law of Tort and Contract 8: Trespass, Case, and the Moral Basis of Liability 9: The Law of Torts in the Nineteenth Century: The Rise of the Tort of Negligence 10: The Law of Torts in the Twentieth Century: Expansion and Collapse of the Tort of Negligence 11: Foundations of the Modern Law of Contract 12: The Rise of the Will Theory 13: The Decline of the Will Theory: Legal Regulation and Contractual Fairness 4 Unjust Enrichment 14: Unjust Enrichment 15: Legal Change and Legal Continuity
