Phillip Wood Author, writes…
I am pleased to present my new book, “Survival codes: World Law and the Future of Humanity”. This post is episode 1 of a series about the book.
The work shows how our laws worldwide now are the largest and most comprehensive codes of conduct which we have. They are essential for the survival of our societies and of humanity as a whole. We could not have a democracy or taxation or crime control without laws, courts and police forces.
The book is written for the general reader, from economists to corporate leaders, politicians to senior journalists, scientists, and ordinary curious people, as well as lawyers. For the first time so far as I am aware, a single book enables the public to understand the fundamentals of all our laws across all countries in the world in one swoop.
The work examines whether each of the fields of law are moral, just and efficient, as well as the catastrophe and even apocalyptic risks. I rate each domain of law out of ten to test whether we are miracles or beasts. The extraordinary results were revelatory to me.
I divide the law into 12 main domains. These include constitutions (including the rule of law, democracies and immigration), taxation, crime and regulation (including data protection, AI and banks).
They include family, sex and inheritance. They cover contracts, torts, property (including markets and money), and corporations. They deal with the bankruptcy of corporations and sovereign states, as well as the conflict of laws, and public international law (including the law of trade, the high seas, space and war).
The book contains a 4000-year history of law.
Though gruelling and relentless, law has been a passion for me for my entire career. I was a City of London lawyer in a magic circle firm, wrote more than 25 books, taught post-graduate courses at Oxford and Cambridge, and lectured at more than 80 universities worldwide. I am glad at last to have taken a giant leap forward in my own personal thinking. I very much hope that you too will find the book a useful new angle on how we think about our world.
Thank you for reading this. Episode 2 will be posted on Friday, 9 January.
Book available from Blackwells, Amazon, Browns, Foyles, Hatchards, The Hive, Waterstones, leading law bookshop Wildys, and others. ISBN 9781919318837
