In a law lecture delivered on 25 October 1758, William Blackstone described law as ‘this most useful and most rational branch of learning’. With the growth and pervasion of law in the succeeding two and a half centuries, the importance of legal study has risen accordingly. Law permeates into every cell of social life. It governs everything from the embryo to exhumation. It governs the air we breathe, the food and drink that we consume, our travel, sexuality, family relationships, property, the world of sport, science, employment, business, education, health, everything from neighbour disputes to war. Taken together, the set of institutions, processes, laws and personnel that provide the apparatus through which law works, and the matrix of rules that control them, are known as the legal system. This system has evolved over a long time. Today it contains elements that are very old, such as the coroners’ courts which have an 800-year history, and elements that are very new, such as electronic law reports and judges using laptops and tablets. A good comprehension of the English legal system requires knowledge and skill in a number of disciplines. The system itself is the result of developments in law, economy and politics, sociological change and the theories which feed all these bodies of know - ledge. This book aims to assist students of the English legal system in the achievement of a good understanding of the law, and of its institutions and processes. We aim to set the legal system in a social context, and to present a range of relevant critical views. Being profi cient in this subject also means being familiar with contemporary changes and proposed changes and this new edition has been comprehensively revised and updated to take these into account. Since the fourteenth edition of this book, the changes to the English legal system have been many and varied. We have included in the text a wide range of legisla - tive, common law, constitutional and European developments that have occurred in the last year. We