From ancient Mesopotamia to today, the epic story of how humans have used laws to forge civilizations

'A fascinating, comprehensive study that forces us to think again about what law is, and why it matters ... For those who want to understand why human society has emerged as it has, this is essential reading' Rana Mitter, author of China's Good War The laws now enforced throughout the world are almost all modelled on systems developed in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During two hundred years of colonial rule, Europeans exported their laws everywhere they could. But they weren't filling a void: in many places, they displaced traditions that were already ancient when Vasco Da Gama first arrived in India. Where, then, did it all begin? And what has law been and done over the course of human history? In The Rule of Laws, pioneering anthropologist Fernanda Pirie traces the development of the world's great legal systems - Chinese, Indian, Roman, and Islamic - and the innumerable smaller traditions they inspired.

"An ambitious account of the rise and fall of the world's great legal systems ... richly informative and consistently thought-provoking .. Fernanda Pirie's work will command, and deserve, a wide readership" - TLS

"Exceptionally rich" - Wall Street Journal

"The Rule of Laws offers a pathbreaking and stimulating account of how societies across different regions and epochs drew upon secular, sacred, and scholarly traditions to create laws that organized the lives of their citizens ... This expansive narrative challenges what we think we know about legal history and the assumptions we make about law's future" - Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny

"The Rule of Laws is a fascinating, comprehensive study that forces us to think again about what law is, and why it matters ... For those who want to understand why human society has emerged as it has, this is essential reading" - China's Good War

"In the exploration of Big questions concerning the law, legality, legal traditions and suchlike, [The Rule of Laws] will occupy an important position. It asks some fundamental questions, including where did the concept of law - and thence of the rule of law - originate? ... A vast canvas ... magisterial" - The Commonwealth Lawyer

"Agile [and] convincing ... A valuable study for students of the law and its evolution over the millennia" - Kirkus

"In this panoramic history, Pirie tells the story of the rise and fall of systems of law across the civilizations, empires, and societies of the ancient and modern world ... Pirie argues that if the history of law has a common theme, it is that laws are not simply rules" - Foreign Affairs

"An intriguing synthesis of the history of global legal codes and their origins" - Library Journal

"The Rule of Laws is a great overview of the history of law, covering four millennia and many different societies ... accessible to a wide readership. It dispels ideas that our current Western form of law is natural and by doing so, give us the liberty to question how it can be used or altered to make the world a better place. It also leaves us with the idea that it can be taken away" - Open Letters Review