Polycentricity: The Multiple Scenes of Law Book

Murphy presents to us the functionality of law. He shows us the fundamental categories and the key relations that define what makes tort, criminal law, and so on. In this manner he presents us the aims of law in terms of legislating how people are to live together in harmony.

This is a different view of law than that which existed say, 150 years ago. We no longer practice and appeal according to tradition or metaphysical morals; instead we want to calibrate our actions according to the customs and aims of business with an eye on the metrics of equality and degree. All in all this is a very informative book in that we see how law is ideally constructed.

Murphy doesn't go too deep into some of the grey areas but he does outline to us in a very utilitarian way how best we should consider the aims and construction of law as a field.

As a field though, it is largely dependent on the content of the areas it aims to legislate, since law depends on society for morality. In that, there is a limit to how far philosophy of law can remain useful since it is hinged on contingencies outside of its area of action.