Faith, Force, and Reason: An Armchair History of the Rule of Law

Faith, Force, and Reason follows the evolution of the rule of law from its birth in the marshes of Mesopotamia over 4,000 years ago to its battle against apartheid in South Africa in the last twenty-five years. It is recounted through the voices of emperors and kings, judges and jurists, and popes and philosophers who have thought about what the rule of law is all about and how it works.

All of law’s most momentous achievements – Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis, the Magna Carta, and the Ame...