Thursday, February 23, 2017

Rahmatian on Lord Kames

Rounding off our Commonwealth titles from 2015 is Lord Kames: Legal and Social Theorist by Andreas Rahmatian, University of Glasgow. The book re-establishes the importance of the ideas and legal philosophy of Scottish jurist and philosopher, Lord Kames. More from the publisher: 
The Scottish jurist, judge, legal historian and philosopher Henry Home (1696–1782) took the title Lord Kames when he was elevated to the bench of the Scottish Court of Session in 1752. In the 18th century, his books were influential and widely read; the educated classes and representatives of the Enlightenment in England, France and in the German states were all familiar with his aesthetic and philosophical writings. 
Andreas Rahmatian explains Kames’ conceptions of legal philosophy, including black-letter law, legal science, legal theory, legal sociology and anthropology in its early stages, setting them in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment. He looks at how Kames came to be one of the forefathers of comparative law, sociology of law, legal psychology and ‘legal science’ in its proper meaning, as opposed to ‘law’.
Praise for the book:

"Andreas Rahmatian deploys multi- and inter-disciplinary skills worthy of the polymathic Kames himself, setting him in the context of eighteenth-century law and Enlightenment but also arguing that we should pay close attention to what his writings tell us today. The result is challenging new insight on the work of a remarkable jurist." -Hector L MacQueen

Further information is available here