Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

THE NATURE OF CUSTOMARY LAW: LEGAL, HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES. Ed by Amanda Perreau-Saussine and James Bernard Murphy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (www.cambridge.org), 2007. ix + 338 pp. ISBN 9780521875110. £50.

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Pages181-181
AuthorJohn W Cairns
DOI10.3366/E1364980909001231
Date01 January 2010
Published date01 January 2010

This is an important collection of essays, which explores some of the ambiguities in and difficulties with the concept of customary law. The volume is divided into two parts: “Custom and morality: natural law, customary law and ius gentium”, and “Custom and law: custom, common law and customary international law”. As these headings indicate, much space is devoted to international law and custom.

The different studies, by a group of distinguished scholars, are varied in nature, making it difficult to assess them as a whole, though a number of themes stand out. Custom in medieval and early modern law is discussed by Jean Porter, Brian Tierney, David Ibbetson, Randall Lesaffer, and Alan Cromartie. The first two give an illuminating discussion of, respectively, the attitude to custom in Gratian's Decretum and the relationship between ius gentium, natural law and custom in the second scholastic, while Ibbetson and Cromartie provide nuanced and sophisticated accounts of custom in English Common Law. Lesaffer's elegant chapter explores siege warfare and the laws of war. Legal philosophers will find much of importance in James Murphy's essay on habit and convention, Christoph Kletzler's analysis of the differences between Hegel and Savigny on custom and philosophy, John Tasioulas on global justice and...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT