Overview

Faith, Force, and Reason follows the way legal thinking has evolved over time and explains how the rule of law has come to replace faith and force as the accepted method of conflict resolution. Faith, Force, and Reason follows the evolution of the rule of lawfrom its birth in the marshes of Mesopotamia over 4,000 years ago to its battle against apartheid in South Africa in the last twenty-five years. It is recounted through the voices of emperors and kings, judges and jurists, and popes and philosophers who have thought about what the rule of law is all about and how it works. All of law’s most momentous achievements – Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis, the Magna Carta, and the American Bill of Rights – and most celebrated advocates – Plato and Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas, Edward Coke, Hugo Grotius, and John Marshall – are featured. So are law’s darkest moments: the trial of Socrates, the burning and beheading of witches and heretics, the persecution of Jews, and the proclamation of Lex Regia which legalised the dictatorial powers of Roman emperors and medieval kings. Faith, Force, and Reason challenges readers to think about the lessons of the history they have read. What does the rule of law mean in our own time? What does it demand of us as well as our political leaders?

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9781487540821

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Reviews

Faith, Force, and Reason offers an engaging history of the rule of law ... Beatty renders profound academic debates in terms that general readers will understand ... It should be required reading for entering law students. - T. Alexander Aleinikoff, University Professor, The New School, and Dean Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center Although the 'rule of law' is often invoked, it is rarely defined or carefully examined. In this beautifully written book, David M. Beatty does just that. At a time when the rule of law is under assault ... this book could not be more timely or important. - Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law At once sweeping and specific, sober and hopeful, and rich with insights that will excite legal scholars and lay readers alike, Faith, Force and Reason is a necessary text for a moment when the rule of law is under incredible strain. - Ronald J. Daniels, President, Johns Hopkins University Both erudite and accessible, David M. Beatty's sweeping ... history of the rule of law illuminates how the ebb and flow of law's supremacy reflects both its resiliency as a bulwark against tyranny and oppression and its stubborn failings. - Gillian Lester, Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, Columbia Law School David M. Beatty's Faith, Force, and Reason is a love letter to the rule of law ... historically informed, impassioned but not uncritical, and engagingly written for the ordinary reader! - Harry W. Arthurs, Dean Emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law School and President Emeritus, York University With his customary lucidity, David M. Beatty has produced a work that is remarkably accessible, edifying, and insightful. - Honourable Frank Iacobucci, Dean Emeritus, University of Toronto Law School and former Judge, Supreme Court of Canada

Faith, Force, and Reason offers a concise and engaging history of the rule of law over several millennia. At the same time, it argues for an approach to law that can guide law-makers, law interpreters and citizens in their public and private lives. Bringing to mind Yuval Noah Harari's work, Beatty renders profound academic debates in terms that general readers will understand and learn from. It should be required reading for entering law students. - T. Alexander Aleinikoff, University Professor, The New School, and Dean Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center Both erudite and accessible, David Beatty's sweeping and compulsively readable history of the rule of law illuminates how the ebb and flow of law's supremacy reflects both its resiliency as a bulwark against tyranny and oppression, and its stubborn failings. Beatty's lens-- that by a 'popular sovereignty' of the rule of law, we might more fully achieve justice-- is refreshingly hopeful, and challenges us to rethink how we live our daily lives. - Gillian Lester, Dean and Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, Columbia Law School David Beatty's Faith, Force, and Reason is a love letter to the rule of law, a beautiful but elusive idea. And what a letter: historically informed, impassioned but not uncritical, and engagingly written for the ordinary reader! - Harry W. Arthurs, Dean Emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law School and President Emeritus, York University In Faith, Force and Reason, David M. Beatty has written a textured history of humanity's attempts to balance the scales of justice from Hammurabi's Code to Obergefell v. Hodges and beyond. At once sweeping and specific, sober and hopeful, and rich with insights that will excite legal scholars and lay readers alike, this book is a necessary text for a moment when the rule of law is under incredible strain. - Ronald J. Daniels, President, Johns Hopkins University Like many other fundamental expressions in the legal world, rule of law has a history and meaning that continue to evolve. David Beatty, with his customary lucid and interesting writing, has produced a work that, although aimed at law students, his audience will be much larger. The book is remarkably accessible, edifying, and insightful. For all that, we are most grateful. - Honourable Frank Iacobucci, Dean Emeritus, University of Toronto Law School and former Judge, Supreme Court of Canada

Author Information

David M. Beatty is a Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto.

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