How to Do Things with Rules

William Twining is Quain Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at University College London and a regular Visiting Professor at the University of Miami Law School. His recent works include General Jurisprudence and Analysis of Evidence (with Anderson and Schum), both of which are closely related to this book. David Miers is Professor of Law at Cardiff. He is the author of Regulating Commercial Gambling and many publications on legislation. He has been Chairman of the Study of Parliament Group and a regular adviser on policy relating to gambling, crime victim compensation, and legislative reform.

• Part I: 1. Some food for thought; Part II. Reading, Using and Interpreting Rules in General: 2. Problems and mischiefs; 3. Of rules in general; 4. Interpretation and application; 5. Imperfect rules; Part III. Reading Law: Reading, Using and Interpreting Legislation and Cases: 6. Routine and problematic readings; 7. Legislation; 8. Interpreting legislation; 9. Reading cases; 10. The European dimension; 11. Rules, reasoning and interpretation; Part IV: Questions and exercises.

'… one of the most influential legal academic books of the last 30 years. It has substantially and beneficially affected the thinking of law students and lawyers worldwide. It is a wonderfully vivid and stimulating introduction to legal methods and to the general arts of interpreting and applying rules. Using a cornucopia of examples from all sorts of real cases, legislation, human rights law, and European law, the authors demystify the processes by which rules are interpreted and applied. In a masterfully clear exegesis, the arcane world of rules and how they work is made easily accessible. This is an inspiring and indispensable book for all those whose scholarship involves argument about the making and breaking of rules. In fact, anyone whose work involves doing things with rules will gain great advantage, skill, and insight by reading this enjoyable book.' G. J. Slapper, Director of the Centre for Law, The Open University