Form and Substance in Anglo-American Law: A Comparative Study in Legal Reasoning, Legal Theory, and Legal Institutions

This book has a comparatively original theme, or set of themes. It offers, first, a new way of analysing styles of legal reasoning - between more 'formal' and more 'substantive' styles. This analysis, which is worked out in some detail, is a major contribution to jurisprudence in its own right. The book then goes on to demonstrate in detail the differences in legal reasoning - and in the legal systems as a whole - between England and America, suggesting that the English is a much more 'formal' legal system and the American a more 'substantive' one. Thirdly, the book proceeds to explore in detail a wide range of cultural, institutional, and historical factors relating to the two legal systems, an exploration which is not only of value for comparative studies, but also confirms the argument in the first part of the book as to the relative 'formality' of the two legal systems.