Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces a range of Western theories of law, and examines a variety of socio-legal case studies. It represents the various theories and suspends judgment. Nevertheless, the juxtaposition of historical, philosophical and sociological approaches itself produced some interesting effects as each offered an implicit critique of the other, raising questions which might go unasked when the approaches are considered in isolation. The appointment of a woman judge is still sufficiently novel to make the front page of a newspaper. Statistics on the destinations of law graduates indicate that women are clustered in the lower status areas of the legal profession, if they remain in practice at all. Judicial independence requires that the decision making processes of judges are not subjected to political pressures to reach particular decisions in particular cases.