The Fall of the Priests and the Rise of the Lawyers

This fast-paced, inspiring and original work proposes that the secular legal systems around the world provide an immeasurably bigger and more comprehensive moral regime to govern our lives than the religious codes. Backed by potent and haunting images the book states that the law, for all its faults, is the one universal ethical framework that everyone believes in and that the law is now by far the most important ideology we have for our survival. The reach of the law extends not just to crime and the family, but also to vast realms relating, for example, to money, banks, tax and corporations and even securitisations and derivatives. The immense influence that the law has raises fundamental moral challenges. The author explores the decline of religions and the huge growth of law and makes suggestions for the future of law and lawyers. The innovative summaries of both the main religions and the central tenets of law worldwide provide useful insights into both the law and religions. The book will appeal to lawyers, economists, philosophers, scientists and many other specialities and is written for the general reader. Written by one of the most important lawyers of our generation, this exciting and powerful new paperback is a major philosophical statement for our times as witnessed by its enthusiastic reception when first published in 2016.

1. The Questions 2. The Purpose of Morality and Law 3. The Past and the Future 4. What is Religion? 5. What is the Rule of Law? 6. The Families of Religion: Western Religions 7. The Families of Religion: Eastern Religions 8. The Families of Law 9. A Brief Tour of Secular Law 10. Money, Banks and Corporations 11. Secularisation and Religious Decline 12. Reasons for the Decline of Religiosity 13. Secularisation of Government 14. The Rise of the Lawyers 15. Who Rules the World: Lawyers or Economists? 16. What is Wrong with the Law? 17. Scientific Progress and the Law 18. A Way of Living 19. A Billion Years from Now