A course of lectures delivered at the Harvard Law School in 1898 form the basis of the book; but these have been modified and altered in subsequent presentation at Oxford University. Three opening lectures discuss the relation between law and public opinion, the characteristics of law-making opinion in England, and the influence of democracy on legislation. These prepare the way for the central theme, an analysis of the leading tendencies of English legislation during the past century. Three periods are marked off, in each of which the main current of legislation is clearly shown to be in accordance with certain definite principles: first, the Blackstonian period of Old Troyism from 1800 to 1830, marked by legislative quiescence; second, the period of Benthamism from 1830 to 1870, marked by profound legislative changes in accordance with individualistic ideals; and third, the period of collectivism, from 1865 to 1900, marked by the same Benthamite method of legislative activity, but by an antithetic socialistic or collectivistic ideal. This central discussion is followed by two chapters on counter-currents and cross-currents of legislative opinions and on illustrative tendencies in judicial legislation during the period under review. A final lecture discusses the relation between legislative opinion and the general tendencies of English thought in other spheres and in the writings of notable individuals, such as Harriet Martineau, Charles Dickens and John Stuart Mill.

This book contains the text of 17 lectures delivered at the London School of Econom ics. The scheme was suggested by Dicey's Law and Public Opinion in England During the Nineteenth Century. The field covered is wide as each lecturer worked independently. General topics are trends of thought, legal developments and trends of social policy.

The famed 1914 edition of this classic is one of the small handful of works that deserve to be read by Americans to understand the 1980s. Indeed, the final three chapters, describing the decline of will and consensus in late Victorian England, stand as a stark, unmistakable reminder that such national decline can happen again. Dicey was the most influential constitutional authority in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Modern politicians have often invoked the phrase "rule of law." So commonplace has it become that few recognize its source in the work of Dicey. Law and Public Opinion in England is written with simplicity, wit and a sense of purpose that marks it as a book apart. It did much more than fortell the decline of empire, it developed the forms in which such decline comes about. In many ways this book represents a pioneering statement on the libertarian tradition as a consequence of rather than rebellion against the legal norms of an advanced civilization. This is a central book for students of society and politics alike.

The law of nature -- The common law -- The adoption of written constitutions -- The separation of law and religion -- The explosion in law publishing -- The two-sidedness of natural law -- The decline of natural law and custom --Substitutes for natural law -- Echoes of natural law.

A starting point for the study of the English Constitution and comparative constitutional law, The Law of the Constitution elucidates the guiding principles of the modern constitution of England: the legislative sovereignty of Parliament, the rule of law, and the binding force of unwritten conventions.