Abstract
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What a very strange introduction to a book on legal theory. What
hautboys, dumb-shows and Google have to do with the serious topic of legal
theory (conventionally known as jurisprudence) is anyone's guess. And we won't
tell you either, or at least not directly. A clue, though ... what do you do with
these words? Interpret them as best you can? Look them up? Do you grumble
to yourself that we haven't told you what these words mean? Look up an online
summary to find out what legal theory 'really' is?
There won't be much real legal theory in this chapter, or at least legal theories
with 'names' or 'titles', like natural law, positivism, or the American Legal Realists.
They will sometimes bob up, but they probably won't make too much sense yet
if you haven't already come across them. Anyway, there is plenty of time to find
out about them later. But feel free to go to the Index if you like to read ahead,
or if you must, google them. But be careful who you trust, who you believe
... because legal theory is not just something to be cribbed quickly. It has an
altogether much more important purpose.