La As a Social System [Hardcover]

In this volume, Niklas Luhmann, the leading exponent of systems theory, explores its implications for our understanding of law. The volume provides a rigorous application to law of a theory that offers profound insights into the relationships between law and other aspects of contemporary society, including politics, the economy, the media, education, and religion.

Foreword,Niklas Luhmann
Introduction,Richard Nobles and David Schiff
1. The Location of Legal Theory
2. The Operative Closure of the Legal System
3. The Function of Law
4. Coding and Programming
5. Justice: a Formula for Contingency
6. The Evolution of Law
7. The PositionoOf Courts in the Legal System
8. Legal Arguments
9. Politics and Law
10. Structural Couplings
11. The Self-description of the Legal System
12. Society and its Law
Index

That a major volume bringing together his [Luhmann's] ideas has been made available in English is both very welcome and potentially influential -Cambridge Law Journal

..an important analysis about the way in which law operates asa distinctive social system..the analysis of the book illuminates legal practice -Cambridge Law Journal

..it is a 'must read' for serious scholars.. -Cambridge Law Journal

Prior to his death in 1998,Niklas Luhammnwas Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Bielefeld University.

This work has been translated from the original German byKlaus A. Ziegert, and edited byFatima Kastner,Richard Nobles,David Schiff, andRosamund Ziegert.