This text brings together a study of a particular legal system - that of Scotland - with a number of (mainly contemporary) theories of or about law. Rather than endorsing any one legal theory, it ends with some tentative conclusions about legal theory itself. It is written for all those interested in the law, whether in the academic context, as practitioners of law or politics, or from the lay point of view, but primarily with students in mind. At this level, chapters II to VI provide an information base for those embarking on courses in comparative law or politics, whilst the whole, and especially the later chapters, should offer most to those who already have some grounding in the issues with which jurisprudence is concerned.
