Custom as a source of law / David J. Bederman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bederman, David J., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Customary law.

Law--Sources.

Law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 266 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

A central puzzle in jurisprudence has been the role of custom in law. Custom is simply the practices and usages of distinctive communities. But are such customs legally binding? Can custom be law, even before it is recognized by authoritative legislation or precedent? And, assuming that custom is a source of law, what are its constituent elements? Is proof of a consistent and long-standing practice sufficient, or must there be an extra ingredient - that the usage is pursued out of a sense of legal obligation, or, at least, that the custom is reasonable and efficacious? And, most tantalizing of all, is custom a source of law that we should embrace in modern, sophisticated legal systems, or is the notion of law from below outdated, or even dangerous, today? This volume answers these questions through a rigorous multidisciplinary, historical, and comparative approach, offering a fresh perspective on custom's enduring place in both domestic and international law.

Contents:

Anthropology : custom in preliterate societies

Culture : the western legal tradition of positivism

History : the common law and custom

Economics, sociobiology, and psychology : the human impulse of custom

Family law

Property

Contracts

Torts

Constitutional law

Private international law : international commercial usage

Public international law : custom among nations

Conclusion : how and why custom endures.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9780511781971

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.